Survey: Demand for Apple notebooks declining
Could falling demand for Apple notebooks be offset by an Apple Netbook?
(Credit: CNET)Apple's Mac division was able to withstand recessionary pressures last quarter by neutralizing a decline in desktop sales with a sharp rise in notebook sales. Will it continue?
A new survey released by ChangeWave Wednesday makes it clear that despite a relatively strong first quarter, Apple is not out of the woods yet. Of respondents planning to buy a notebook in the next 90 days, the percentage of those planning to buy an Apple notebook fell six percentage points to 28 percent, as compared with November's survey.
The overall percentage of respondents planning to buy a notebook fell from 8 percent in November to 6 percent, so it's not just Apple that's feeling the pinch. And consumer electronics spending is on the wane as well, with the percentage of those planning to spend more on consumer tech over the next 90 days falling to a two-and-a-half-year low.
But Changewave says that decline is being partially offset by an increase in demand for Netbooks, a category where Apple is taking a wait-and-see approach. The research firm concludes its report by opining that Apple could be in trouble without a Netbook, because the PC market is growing increasingly price-sensitive as the recession takes hold.
Whether or not you agree with that conclusion probably depends on how you look at the market: Netbooks are growing, but they are low-margin devices that aren't going to do much to help your bottom line. If you increase unit sales at the expense of profits, you're not necessarily better off: you'll get some revenue that might have otherwise gone to a competitor with a more price-conscious offering, but will investors tolerate a decline in gross margin?
Apple's notebook sales are growing faster than the market without a Netbook, at 34 percent year-over-year compared with IDC's estimate of 20 percent for the entire market, although some of that might have been pent-up demand for the redesigned notebooks introduced in October. Netbook shipments are expected to double next year, but just 10 million were sold in 2008, while Apple sold 6.4 million MacBooks and MacBook Pros in calendar 2008.
Apple's real problem has been the plunging interest in its iMac lineup over the last several months; it has actually been falling faster than the market. The company appears ready to upgrade that product line in the next few months, and that appears to have registered with some of Changewave's respondents: among those planning to buy a desktop in the next 90 days, 28 percent said they plan to buy a Mac, up slightly from 27 percent in November.
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom. 
even die-hard Mac users r buying netbooks as secondary computers
and the Macbook Air will always be niche product
Apple can claim the Iphone to be a netbook all they want
until it runs a desktop OS it will never be
and plus the Iphone still needs a lot of Basic features
than every other phone has !{thats a whole new topic altogether}
Apple's arrogance is always going to be a hinderance
Remember Apple were all in a recession right now !
A) Apple releases a netbook macbook
B) The Mac Mini finally gets refreshed
I'd prefer the netbook since I wouldn't have to go and buy a monitor, keyboard a mouse for her, otherwise I'd send her to Ubuntu on someone else's netbook, like dell or samsung or something.
The damn notebook stop working. I guessed Apple engineered this to last a less than a year and consumer would forget about its inherent shortfall, finally, this is coming to light. And it's evident the demand is slowing or stop because the problem is now transparent.
It's like a sales guy hyping up his product so you buy. Then after you use it, the utility falls percipitately downward. Subsequent consumers know the defect and avoid it like a plague. That's what Apple product is. The hype is OVER.
and also why they win so many design awards
and why PC makers always copy their style !
also why MAcs have a super high re-sale value !
should I go on....
Stop moaning, bandying terms around that you obviously do not understand and describe exactly the problem you are experiencing.
Even better, go to the Apple Support site here: http://discussions.apple.com/index.jspa
Sign up and post your issues. You will have a solution within minutes.
but it will need a X86 processor also it should have a bigger screen
and should use a desktop class O.S like 'leopard or tiger'
also all netbooks r not as bad/cheap as you claim
the Hp mini is a pretty good ultra-portable laptop
it has a decent keyboard and touchpad but the only problem is it runs windows
Imagine if HP can make a decent Netbook, Apple surely can do it too !
Your comment was a confusing, semi-literate rant. It appears that you are claiming personal experience with a Mac notebook that died before the one-year warranty was up. Did you get it fixed/replaced? If Apple is as evil as you seem to claim, they'd be stupid to have "engineered this to last less than a year" and then offer a one year warranty.
Also, your comment value is worthless on other than faulty logical grounds. It doesn't sound as though you've done some kind of scientific survey of Mac notebooks to compare their quality to the overall market.
The final paragraph of your comment is an inarticulate mess. I'm not sure how the "utility" changes after you purchase it. Do parts fall off? Does the operating system stop allowing you to write inarticulate rants like this?
Most of the other comments were reasonable. Yours was not.
in a recession high end cars and luxury goods aren't much affected
while low end commodity items will be !
Apple's problem is netbooks not price
BTW! plzz stop using the word overpriced
Expensive and overpriced r entirely different things !
It broke my heart to not buy an Apple, but I just couldn't afford one this time around.
You obviously have no idea what you are talking about because you just contradicted yourself with your own statement. "Apple's problem is not price it is netbooks." Umm... have you any clue why people are jumping all over netbooks? Could it possibly be because the average netbook is $300???
I use the word overpriced because that is exactly what Apple products are, overpriced. With a margin of 34% (pure profit) I can't think of any word to use besides it. I don't know why people get so offensive when I claim Apple products are overpriced. I'm not calling them crappy products (they aren't, not close) merely overpriced products. I own an iPhone for Petes Sake.
yes apple's products have high margin
but that doesn't mean they r overpriced
people want problem free products and r willing to pay extra for it
plus all the software that ships makes up for the cost
and when you count resale value it's actually cheaper sometimes to buy a MAC
BTW I wasn't being offensive just giving out my opinion on the subject
obviously they r certain items where the cost can't be justified
for eg-: monitors and ram {these I agree r overpriced}
but their core products r in fact competitively priced IMO
as far as netbooks go,
yes netbooks r cheap but thats not the only reason they r selling
netbooks r essentially companion products for many
and they also sell because of their size and weight
it's wrong to say netbooks sell only on price !
I want a Eee pc 1000HE when it comes out. I wish the prices were a little lower, but whatever. Portability per dollar is starting to win out over power per dollar.
Weak Sauce.
Netbooks are cheap throw away computers, they are ugly and inefficient, the keyboards are made for children. I would much rather pack an iphone in my pocket than a giant chunk of plastic with a giant power cord. It is a phone as well so now i don't need a netbook and a phone.
As I said before, apple is about innovation not price. Apple's target market is not netbook buyers. As soon as apple begins competing on price with acer and hp it looses it's largest customer base. Apple's will always be overpriced because that is part of their strategy. Economic hard times do not effect Apples largest demographics computer purchases.
- by gsmiller88 February 9, 2009 9:06 AM PST
- If you want a netbook MacBook, buy the Air.
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
(31 Comments)