The hero for IT in 2011?...the webbook

January 2012,
Information Technology, UK

2011 saw a wave of negativity sweep through the UK’s economic landscape. Increases in VAT, a retracted level of spending, austerity measures from the Government, natural disasters across the globe, retail store closures, scandals across the media and riots; the likes of which had not been seen since the 80s. Perhaps, it is now time to take stock of what this really meant to the IT market in 2011?

One of the biggest negatives drawn from the IT market in 2011 was the declining strength of the notebook segment. By the end of 2011 the notebook segment had seen its lowest value share of the total IT market recorded in over 7 years. Although the segment is likely to struggle into 2012, innovation with regards to the Ultra Book, could lead to an improvement in the overall value in the notebook segment. However, when comparing the notebook value proportion decline in a PCs only analysis it is clear that innovation in the form of the Webbook has actually spun negative to a positive.

The Webbook, heralded as a new way to view and consume content, really did take off in 2011. With the average price of a Webbook in December 2011 coming in at £380 (a 13.5% decline on December 2010), it brought with it a significant increase in sales. Even excluding direct sales from key manufacturers this product has seen massive strides forward as specialist, general and independent retailers ranged the product throughout the year. To give scale to the level of ranging that took place we can observe that the number of brands selling per outlet in the GfK tracked market place rose from just over 2 brands per shop in 2010 to 4 in 2011. A similar doubling effect can be seen when comparing the number of models selling per outlet, which, over the same time period rose from 5 to 10. It is no doubt that the Webbook’s segment has help to stave off a more negative picture. With further developments in Operating Systems and potential revisions of models in 2012 Webbooks could yet continue warding off some big dips for a another challenging year.

Written by Greg Allen

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