Record Shipments of Widescreen Notebooks
DigiTimes reports that widescreen notebooks have reached an impressive 79% of total market share for mobile systems. North America has fallen in love with wide-aspect notebooks as the market share for that region is an overwhelming 85%. In stark contrast however is the market in Japan where the traditional 4:3 aspect screens still hold a strong 48% of the market share. With notebooks being much more capable in terms of multimedia applications, it is not surprising to see that the widescreen LCD is gaining more and more traction though there will always be a home for the standard 4:3 aspect LCD with thin and light systems.
"Differences in the penetration of wide aspect ratio notebooks for each brand are dependent upon a number of factors," said John Jacobs, director of Notebook Market Research at DisplaySearch. "For a long time, many brands promoted wide as a differentiating factor, and charged a premium for these products, even after panel prices between comparable wide and standard aspect panels disappeared. Brands that were hungry for market share were quick to drop the street price premium, even running 'free upgrade' promotions encouraging customers to make the transition. Additionally, brands with a heavier reliance on the enterprise market faced the additional hurdle of convincing IT managers to embrace wide products and support additional configurations."
