Study Shows Linux at 30% of Netbook Market

Nov 11, 2009

Marcel Hilzinger

After Asus added Windows XP to its netbooks, euphoria in the Linux camp soon abated. However, it proved to be a misplaced hangover.

"High return rates, little market share": the scare tactic Microsoft used in the spring of 2009 to declare Linux dead in the water in the netbook market. But what might be true for the U.S. doesn't hold for the European and worldwide market as a whole.

Not only did Dell repeatedly confirm that it found no higher a return rate than Windows for its 30% Ubuntu-installed netbooks, a new independent study by the ABI Research firm forecasts a 32% market share for Linux on netbooks for 2009.

Eric Lai of ComputerWorld perused the cost-based study and spoke with its leader, analyst Jeff Orr. Orr even predicted that ARM processors becoming more popular might drive Linux to overtake Windows in the netbook market by 2013.

According to Lai, Microsoft also revised its earlier claim of a 96% ownership of the market. Microsoft's statement now says, "over 93% of worldwide small notebook PCs run Windows today."

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