ABI Research Says 31% of Netbooks Shipped in 2009 Run Linux. Really?

I’m starting to find Intel’s Mobiln Linux for mobile devices a bit more interesting than I did a few months ago. But, to be perfectly honest, I still don’t see a reason to migrate to it from Ubuntu Netbook Remix. So, the Moblin aspect of the video posted in the Intel blog entry…

Video: Paul Cooper on the Moblin User Experience

…didn’t really interest me. But, this sentence did: According to Jeff Orr, an analyst at ABI Research, Linux-based netbooks will be close to one-third of the 35 million netbooks shipped this year or 11 million Linux netbooks…

Hmm… 11/35 = 0.3142. So, 31% of all netbooks shipped in 2009 shipped with Linux installed? Nearly 1 out of every 3? Really? Where are all these Linux based netbooks? I bought one (an Acer Aspire One) in 2008 but haven’t seen another one since then. Are there millions and millions of Linux netbooks shipping in Europe and Asia? I certainly don’t see them in the U.S.

Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. Other speakers include Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Tim Devane (bitly), and SocialTimes' writer Devon Glenn.   Register now.