Global ultrabook shipment volume will see a significant uplift in 2012, with its share reaching around 13% of the total notebook PC shipment, compared to 2% in 2011, according to Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC), a Taiwan-based ICT industry research institute. The share of ultrabook is expected to grow upward and stand at around 35% in 2016, MIC added.

Brian Chen, MIC's senior analyst, commented that currently the price range of ultrabooks is still higher than mainstream notebook PCs. Therefore, massive demand for ultrabooks is unlikely to be seen upon the release of ultrabooks. Nevertheless, the promotional effect stemming from ultrabooks is to attract more branded vendors to develop their respective ultrabooks. It is anticipated that touchscreen ultrabooks will increase product diversity in the notebook PC market thereby attracting more new customers.

Ultrabook manufacturers will increase the screen size of ultrabooks to 14- and 15.6-inches and will incorporate other interface alternatives into their ultrabooks such as voice-commands, hand gestures and touchscreens, said MIC. This is expected to help alleviate the market threat posed by tablets on notebook PCs. With the touchscreen technology evolving, consumers are becoming more familiar with touchscreen devices. Under such market trend, notebook PC manufacturers are expected to re-evaluate the applicability of touchscreens on notebook PCs. In addition, the Windows 7 OS user interface seems not to work well with touchscreens. However, this situation will likely be resolved with the release of Windows 8 OS that, other than traditional interfaces, the new OS will usher in with a new Metro user interface and make tablet-like touchscreens possible on notebook PCs.

With the new Windows 8 soon to hit the market, touchscreens on ultrabooks will be significantly improved and lead to the increased diversity in form factors such as convertible, docking station, and sliding screen designs, Chen commented. When notebook PC form factors begin to see changes, their development will usher in a new era. Consequently, it is anticipated that the boundary between tablets and notebook PCs will become blurrier and the tendency toward the application convergence will become more pronounced.

More information can be found in the following MIC report: Current Development and Future Trends of Ultrabooks

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About MIC

Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC), based in Taipei, Taiwan, was founded in 1987. MIC is Taiwan's premier IT industry research and consulting firm providing intelligence, in-depth analysis, and strategic consulting services on global IT product and technology trends, focusing on markets and industries in Asia-Pacific. MIC is part of the Institute for Information Industry. https://mic.iii.org.tw/english