MUNICH, Germany — Two trends are currently dominating the market for laptop computers: According to market research firm DisplaySearch, the standard notebook market volume will expose zero growth in 2009 — for the first time ever. In the meantime, netbooks go onto the fast lane.

While penetration rates for the small netbooks (or mini-notes, as the small computers with display sizes of 12 inch and smaller are called) is relatively low in North America, Asia-Pacific and China, the growth rates for this device class is exorbitant. In Greater China for instance, the market for the dwarfs will grow by 260 percent, the market researchers predict. Growth rates in North America, Latin America and EMEA are 137 percent, 88 percent and 81 percent, respectively.

In contrast, the growth rates for standard notebook computers with displays larger than 12.1" are expected to be 22.3 percent for China and 20 percent in Latin America. In North America and EMEA, the growth rates for these computers are now minus 1.1 percent in North America and minus 9.1 percent in EMEA. In Japan, sales of standard notebook even declines by 13 percent while the mini notebooks can expect a 29 percent hike.

As one of the major reasons for the development DisplaySearch has identified the low price for mini-notes. Another important factor is that telecom providers offer subsidized models along with a wireless subscription.

In the meantime, classical notebooks are falling behind, mostly as a consequence of the 'dramatic' reduction in demand from enterprise customers. This reduction, in turn is caused by the purchasing reluctance from corporate IT customers. In part, there is also a pent-up demand in B2B markets since many corporate customers declined to roll out Windows Vista in their respective organizations. For this reason, the launch of Windows 7 later this year could trigger a recovery for the notebook market. However, DisplaySearch does not expect to materialize this uptrend before 2010.

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