Intel CEO Paul Otellini revealed that consumers have started purchasing the netbooks as primary PCs, which indicated that the demand for netbooks is become stable and is poised for further growth.

Otellini further shared during a speech that Netbook shipments will grow north of 20%, as PC shipments continue to increase this year. He delivered a speech at the company's investor meeting being held in Santa Clara, California.

He further added that earlier, netbooks were looked upon as a secondary device for consumers, but by the passage of time, they are now becoming a primary purchase for some audiences in budding markets.

In the fourth quarter of 2009, about 53% of the laptop purchases were netbooks, according to the data cited from IDC. As a matter of fact, most of them were first-time PC buyers.

Despite the low prices, netbooks have attracted disapproval for poor performance and limited graphics capabilities. Questions have been raised about the Atom processor and whether Intel can sustain demand for the device.

According to an IDC study, during the first quarter of 2010, Intel's Atom processor for netbooks represented 20% of Intel's mobile PC processor shipments.

Otellini disagreed on the point that tablets would eat into the sales of netbooks. He said, “A tablet is fundamentally a consumption device. Other devices like netbooks, laptops and desktops are content creation devices, and tablets won't take market share from those devices”.