Like in most parts of the world, the economic crisis gave the netbook – the stripped-down version of the laptop – the opportunity to stand out and provide the spark for the lethargic consumer electronics market.

Consumer research firm Gfk Philippines, in its recent annual conference, said netbook sales accounted for 36 percent of the total notebook sales in July this year.

Gfk said before the economic meltdown, consumers were still snapping up expensive laptops. “And then came the crisis… and the netbook was born,” it said.

“(While) others said it won’t last, now everyone’s making it even the ones not in the PC business,” said the research firm, apparently referring to phone maker Nokia which has announced that it would enter the netbook market with the Nokia Booklet 3G.

The launch of Microsoft’s Windows 7 is also expected to further increase the popularity of netbooks, Gfk said, adding the new OS would likely expand the line of netbooks in the country.

Notebook PCs, however, still fared relatively well in the first seven months of 2009 mainly because of falling price. Gfk said 58 percent of notebook PCs were sold below P30,000 during this period, mostly with 14.1-inch screen size.

The 2-gigabyte RAM share also grew from 20 percent to 40 percent, and the 250-and-above gigabyte HD capacity increased from 12 percent to 48 percent, the research house said.

Gfk said despite the crisis, the Philippine consumer market is still poised for growth. “It is far from saturation,” it said, noting that products will be aimed at lower price bands while new applications aimed at consumers will further promote IT in the mainstream.

The research outfit said printers would continue to grow along with the expansion of the PC market. There will be a shift, however, from single-function printers to entry-level multi-function models.

In the desktop space, Gfk said the CRT days are definitely over with more than 95 percent of PC monitors sold were LCD. Thirty-two percent of the LCDs sold were priced between P6,000 to P7,500, followed by P4,500 to 6,000 at 22 percent. Forty eight percent of the buyers went for 18-inch to 19-inch screen size while 23 percent opted for the smaller 16-inch to 17-inch size.

All in all, Gfk said consumers are now “enjoying the IT Age” and that “Filipinos are learning to be techie as a status symbol.”

“The Internet connectivity, along with consumer-centered applications, is boosting PC use and IT devices. Low-priced models are flourishing, with new developments in hardware will (likely) result in continued affordability,” it said.