How Many iPads Sold Versus Netbooks in 2011?

David Senra, reading Leander Kahney, says 63 million iPads were sold in 2011 versus 30 million netbooks. A single product outsold an entire product category.

In 2007, other companies were producing netbooks, and netbooks accounted for about 20 percent of the laptop market. Apple never seriously considered making one. Steve Jobs's reason was that netbooks are not better than anything. They are just cheap laptops. Jony Ive's response was to focus resources on developing the iPad. He proposed that the tablets in his lab could be Apple's answer to the netbook. He suggested a tablet was basically an inexpensive laptop without a keyboard. Refusing to make a me-too product is a stance Steve Jobs and Jony Ive repeat.

Shipments of iPads rapidly overtook netbooks. The alternative was a cheap laptop or an iPad.