In late 2007, netbooks were kind of a fad. By 2008, they were the fastest growing segment of the PC industry. More than 2 years after the launch of the Eee PC 701, where are we today? According to DisplaySearch, netbook shipments are still growing. The research firm’s most recent report shows that netbook shipments are up 103% from last year.

Over the same period, DisplaySearch says revenues from mini-notebooks are up 73%. Is this kind of growth sustainable? That remains to be seen, but the company projects that even more netbooks will be sold in 2010 than in 2009, although DisplaySearch projects a smaller year-to-year growth number of about 19%.

At the same time, DisplaySearch points out that overall revenues from notebook sales are down about 7%. While it’s tempting to say that low cost netbooks are to blame, there’s no way to know if people would have actually bought even fewer notebooks in 2009 had there not been low cost options like netbooks available.