UPDATE 1-Samsung Elec aims to more than double notebook sales

* Aims to sell 5 mln notebooks in 2009 vs 2 mln in 2008

* Aims to increase netbook market share to 15 pct from 5 pct (Adds details, quote)

By Marie-France Han

SEOUL, April 23 (Reuters) - South Korea's Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) on Thursday said it aimed to more than double its notebook computer sales this year on the strength of its sales of increasingly popular netbooks.

Samsung said in a news conference that it aimed to sell 5 million notebook computers in 2009, up from 2 million sold in 2008. Of those 5 million, Samsung aims to sell 4 million netbooks, which are cheaper and smaller than traditional notebook computers.

"Our current market share in netbooks is about 5 percent, and with sales of 4 million netbooks this year, we are aiming for a 15 prcent market share," said Kyu Uhm, vice president of sales and marketing at Samsung's computer systems division.

It is also aimed to place as high as No.7 in global notebook sales ranking this year, after ranking 10th last year, Uhm said.

Cheap and light-weight, netbooks represent one of the few bright spots in the downturn-hit PC industry.

Research firm IDC said netbooks could dramatically outperform the overall PC market in 2009. It forecast netbook shipments would grow by about 90 percent this year, compared with a 4 percent decline for the overall sector.

Since their introduction less than two years ago by Taiwan's Asustek (2357.TW), nearly all major PC makers, including Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.N), Dell (DELL.O), Acer (2353.TW) and Lenovo (0992.HK), have jumped on the netbook bandwagon.

Asustek set a 2009 target to sell 7 million netbooks, up from 5 million in 2008.

Shares in Samsung were up 1 percent by 0253 GMT in the flat Seoul market .KS11. (Additional reporting by Rhee So-eui, Editing by Chris Lewis)