iPad Wrecks Netbook Sales

Netbook mania has hit the wall hard, and Apple's shiny new tablet could be to blame. Digging through some recent Morgan Stanley research, Fortune found some interesting charts showing that the growth of netbook sales took an abrupt dive in January—a victim, the researcher concludes, of the iPad's much-hyped announcement.

That might seem to be a slightly dubious conclusion, since the sales data comes from before the iPad was announced, writes Philip Elmer-DeWitt, but a March survey backs it up; 44% of those planning to buy an iPad said they were doing so instead of buying a netbook or notebook. Next in line to take a hit: the iPod, at 28%.
(More Netbooks stories.)