With the release of Apple’s iPad, a new market niche has been created – that for tablets. When the iPad first appeared almost a year ago, it was seen as a very separate niche that won’t affect the laptop market much. But this has proven to be wrong. Based on studies, the iPad is eating into the once very lucrative netbook niche of the laptop market. Who would’ve thought that would actually happen in just the iPad’s first iteration, when people skeptically thought that it won’t ever replace a netbook in terms of functionality.

With the popularity of tablets, specifically the iPad, the market is now rethinking about the viability of both niches. What about you? Which of the two would you prefer? Are you for a netbook or for an iPad?