We know that the netbook industry is growing just by looking at the sheer number of models from different manufacturers coming out in the market, but is it really a lucrative business?

Considering that netbooks will have to fight amongst themselves as well as lure potential laptop owners, one would think that the netbook biz might just be headed for a recession as well. However, with the recent findings of a research done by IDC, it’s proving that the opposite is true. For the 3rd quarter alone, 2 million netbooks were sold in Europe, Middle East and Africa which is already 7% of the total sales for laptops and desktops. Acer and Asus got the bigger piece of the pie at 80% thanks to the integration of 3G connectivity and tie up with telecom firms. The IDC also sees things only getting better in the future which also means that netbook makers will most likely be shifting gears to move to the next level.

I guess the worldwide economic crisis will now also play a hand in this game as consumers will be more frugal when it comes to buying laptops. If you’re not into heavy mobile computing (which most of you are), then the more affordable and decently featured netbook is definitely the way to go. I wonder what 2009 will bring to the ever growing and changing netbook industry.

[register hardware via engadget]