Netbook shipments saw sharp growth in Europe and Japan during the first quarter, Chou said. Japan is usually a market where people crave small things, and netbooks fit into that category, Chou said.

Samsung was a relative latecomer to the netbook space but saw plenty of buyers for its NC10 laptop in Western Europe, Chou said. Samsung offered users a better overall netbook experience with a larger screen and a decent-sized keyboard.

Telecommunication companies are playing a big part in Europe and Japan to drive the netbook phenomenon by bundling it with telecom services. The trend is also reaching the U.S., with AT&T offering a US$99 Acer netbook with a two-year mobile broadband contract.

Netbook adoption will also continue to grow as PC makers add more and more features like bigger screen sizes and better graphics, Chou said. Asus, for example, added a DVD drive to one of its models. Early netbooks have been panned for poor graphics capabilities, but Nvidia has come out with a chip platform that will make it possible to watch full high-definition video on netbooks.

There is also a growing interest in netbooks with screen sizes between 9 and 12 inches, Chou said. Early last year, laptops with a 7-inch screen size dominated shipments, but interest waned as laptops with larger screen sizes shipped, Chou said.