Mac Sales Are Down. No! Mac Sales Are Up! We Shall See

In another he said, he said (or she said) scenario surrounding Apple, one institution has Apple having a poor back-to-school Mac sale while another sees the Macs doing very well despite rising living and educational costs.

So, who's right?

Both posts from Appleinsider has contrary conclusions about Apple's Mac performance in this year's back-to-school sale.  A day earlier, UBS reports that both Macs and iPads are doing very well while non-Apple tablets have been left collecting dust on the shelf.

In fact, things are so bad that Best Buy has asked that HP take back the Touchpads that it has in the warehouse.  So far, BB has sold only 9% of those.

At the end of the day, Mac growth continue to outpace the PC market.  Well, that's according to UBS.

Meanwhile, Global Equities Research has the Macs sucking on air with sales down 35-40%, resulting in last weekend being one of the worst in 2011.  Meanwhile, PC sales are doing just fine.  He believes this has a lot ot do with the higher cost of living like gas prices and the continuing recession on Main Street.

So, who's right about this?  We'll know when Apple reports earnings but slowing Mac sales in the US could be masked by exploding Mac sales in Greater China and Asia.

So, let's see who's right about this.  And even if GER is right, Apple has moved beyond just the US market now.  The mobile strategy and vision of Steve Jobs is already taking off in markets outside of North America.  While I hate to say it but Apple is less and less reliant on us.  China is where Apple has its eyes.

Don't be surprise if future Apple product launches take place simultaneously here and China.

Another note about the sales of Macs.  Apple has publicly acknowledged that the iPad is beginning to cannibalize Mac sales and those of PC sales even more.  Could this be what's happening?