Samsung hopes to sell up to 5 million notebook computers in 2009, which is a drastic increase from the company's 2 million sold during 2008.
Last year, the company was ranked No. 10 in global notebook sales, but 5M units sold will bump Samsung up to No. 7. The majority of Samsung's anticipated sales in 2009, however, will not be notebooks, as the company shifts focus towards netbooks.
The South Korean company is better known for its DRAM and other electronics, and entered the notebook market behind Hewlett-Packard, Acer, Dell, and others that are ahead of it on the sales charts.
Samsung currently controls just 5 percent of the netbook market, but company executives hope a strong 2009 -- with 4 million netbooks sold -- will help it control around 15 percent of the market this year.
Analysts are still unsure whether or not Samsung will be able to meet its ambitious sales goals this year, but it's possible that it can reach 5 million units sold -- especially if the demand for netbooks continues to rise.
The PC industry has been struggling as of late, but the market for netbooks, growing in popularity, is one of the sole bright spots for the industry. Overall desktop sales have been declining while notebook and netbooks sales increased, although notebook sales have also declined the past 2-3 quarters.
Analysts predict netbooks shipped throughout the world will increase 90 percent in 2009, with notebooks and desktop sales expected to shrink.
