Surprise Hits: Netbooks are the future of computing

You take the internet and notebook computers, put them together, and you have what has become known as a netbook.

Netbooks have become popular in recent years as users get less attached to computer-based software and more amenable to using Web-based applications instead. Having a mini-computer in your hand became common with the advent of the iPhone. One drawback to Apple (AAPL)'s iPhone is that it has no keyboard. Netbooks' keyboards and bigger screens have made them a hot consumer-electronics product.