Netbooks have been very popular since they launched and the economy went bad. Many consumers are finding the low price point of the typical netbook to be hard to pass up. As sales of netbooks soar, overall revenues in the notebook category are slipping.

Research firm DisplaySearch has released its latest numbers for the notebook and netbook category and the value of the notebook PC market as a whole was $26.4 billion, up 10% quarter over quarter, but down 5% year over year. The netbook segment was the biggest growth category with an increase from last quarter of 37% and a year over year increase of 264%.

At the same time, all other categories of notebooks declined. Ultraportables dropped by 31% year over year, and desktop replacements dropped 6% YoY. The average selling price for notebook PCs is down 10% while the average selling price of netbooks has declined 29% from last year to $361.

DisplaySearch