So the answer to the Faux News-esque Has Apple’s iPad finally killed the Netbook? question is a firm NO. It is right there in paragraph four:
But the real reason Netbooks have fallen by the wayside is that they failed to evolve. After the first couple of generations, Netbooks settled into a comfortable niche of a 10.1-inch display, 1GB to 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and Windows (first XP, then Windows 7 Starter or Home Premium). You could get this basic combo for as little as $299, but some companies would charge more for upgrades such as nicer designs, rugged bodies, 3G antennas, or occasionally a higher-resolution display. But performance-wise, you’d usually be hard-pressed to tell the difference between a $299 Netbook and a $450 one.
Here is another stunning insight:
Tablets, on the other hand, have been growing in reader interest since the iPad launch (with a few ups and downs along the way), and is 56 percent higher in April 2011 than it was one year before.
So, interest in tablets has been growing since the first viable one was introduced. Shocked, shocked I am that there wasn’t more interest in tablets before they were actually being sold. I bet there was a similar uptick in iPods after they were introduced!