What is the key factor stopping customers from buying an ultrabook? Costs, as CONTEXT reports the devices retain too-high selling prices.
The analyst points out an ultrabook has an average price of €670. In comparison, the average consumer notebook costs €410 while a netbook costs €197. Not to mention that ultrabooks launched in a period of tightening consumer wallets and austerity measures.
Ultimately when buying a notebook (instead of a tablet) customers look less at weight and battery lives and more at prices.
CONTEXT expects ultrabook prices to drop during 2012, due to launch of the Intel Ivy Bridge platform and growing competition from companies like AMD.
The analyst also reports Acer lead the ultrabook market in W. Europe, taking over 62% of Q4 2011 sales. Following are Toshiba, Asus and Lenovo. Intel remains optimistic on the format, predicting ultrabooks will make 40% of the global consumer laptop market by the end of 2012.
Go CONTEXT









Darty France revenues are down by -4.7% Y-o-Y, while Darty Italy, Turkey and Spain show 1.7% Y-o-Y growth for the period. The retailer say sgrowth was seen in sales within the multimedia device segments, particularly in tablets and notebooks.
The Everspin customer list contains major OEMs such as Dell and LSI using MRAM in RAID storage solutions. The company says it has over 300 active customers, with around 100 MRAM products in 3 markets.
The Powerline standard provides speeds of up to 200 Mbps, and is set up by connecting the adapter to a router (via Ethernet cable) before plugging it into a wall socket. The network is complete after plugging a second adapter into another wall socket and connecting it to a device via second cable.
The £1.1 billion Best Buy UK venture called it quits following losses of £46.7M in the 6 months to September 2011.

