Shipments of netbooks are expected to hit some 60 million this year, which in turn is expected to double by 2013, says a new report by ABI Research. While many have expected the demand for netbooks to taper off as the economy recovers, ABI noted that "consumer interest in netbooks shows no sign of waning," two years after the first ASUS Eee PC arrived on the scene.

A shift among the market share of vendors has taken place though, with major names such as HP (NYSE: HPQ), Dell, Lenovo and Samsung hopping on the bandwagon. Indeed, consumers are spoiled with choices on the brands and designs that they can purchase in the $500 to $1,000 range.

Personally, I've observed friends and relatives purchasing an "additional" netbook just for persional use. ABI summed up the phenomena, saying: "Netbooks are not replacing laptops or PCs; they are being bought as complementary devices."

For more on this story:
- check out this article at eWeek
- check out this article at InfoTech 

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