Intel: Netbooks Not Eating into Notebook Sales

Intel CEO Paul Otellini, in a conference call with financial analysts yesterday, said that's really not happening after all:

Intel has a significant reason to pay very close attention to this, namely earnings. The numbers posted yesterday by the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker show that so far, so good.

What we've seen in a variety of netbooks so far is that they have very nice battery life, nice design and OK performance if you don't need to multi-task. They make fine Internet-access devices and are good for quickly typing notes or short papers even without a full-blown keyboard.

Netbooks have been priced, by and large, the same as low-end notebooks that can do a little more. But netbooks are easier to take around with you and, importantly for some people, are a platform that continues to use Microsoft's Windows XP.