OneStream

Netbooks are a new category of small, light and relatively cheap laptops. Designed primarily for web browsing and email, they have emerged as an unexpected consumer success – users value their lightweight form factor, portability and low cost. Rarely bought to displace more powerful desktop or conventional laptop computers, they have become a disruptive, high-volume market segment, employing wireless and mobile broadband technology to ‘plug people in’ wherever they are. And in the consumer space, they are selling like hot cakes – according to ABI Research*, worldwide shipments are expected to exceed 35 million in 2009, rising to an estimated 139 million in 2013 – and that’s as many units as the current worldwide laptop market.

But can their benefits translate easily into the corporate environment? What are the hurdles to be overcome before netbooks are as widely used in the office – and by mobile workers, out of the office – as their more cumbersome and expensive counterparts?

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