Netbook sales push Samsung up mobile PC race

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. climbed from ninth to seventh place in notebook PCs leaping over Apple and Sony, according to the latest quarterly figures from iSuppli Corp. Mobile PC shipments dropped 5.4 percent in the first three months of 2010, but still expects it will expand by 29.8 percent in 2010.

Thanks to its strength in netbooks, Samsung's sales grew 14.6 percent to 1.9 million units in Q1 10, grabbing a 3.9 percent slice of the overall mobile PC market, iSuppli said. Fujitsu Ltd had the biggest quarterly increase at 17.6 percent, but placed 10th overall in the rankings.

"About 50 percent of Samsung's mobile PC shipments in the first quarter were netbooks," said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst, compute platforms for iSuppli.

"Samsung's netbooks are enjoying strong sales to European telecommunications operators, as European consumers in the first quarter continued to snap up netbook PCs bundled with mobile broadband contracts," he said.

Apple and Samsung remain very close in the rankings, with only 130,000 units separating the two companies. However, Samsung now is selling mobile PCs in the United States, opening up a huge new market opportunity for the South Korea electronics giant, Wilkins said.

The market watcher expects the overall notebook market will grow by to 29.8 percent in 2010.

- EE Times