Netbooks are set to help a growing trend among consumers towards mobile broadband, according to a new study from Pyramid Research.
The devices resemble laptops but are mainly designed for browsing the internet and sending emails. The applications they use tend to be remotely accessed via the internet - meaning a mobile broadband connection is often the only way to use a netbook.
According to Pyramid Research, netbooks are starting to take off - of the 13 million sold globally in 2008, ten million were sold during the second half of the year. Cristiano Laux, manager of consulting at Pyramid Research and one of the report's authors, suggested that netbooks will be increasingly sold with mobile broadband access in the future.
"Bundles of these machines with internet access are set to become a bread-and-butter offering for operators in developed and emerging markets alike, exceeding sales of notebook computers in the operator channel by 2010," he explained.
In the UK, mobile broadband has been cited as a technology which could help with the provision of universal broadband. The government believes that the technology may be able to help areas of Britain currently unable to access high-speed internet.
