Mac Sales Contracted in November

If a report from WSJ is correct, that may indeed be the case.  According to November computer data from NDP Group Inc. 

Mac sales lost 1% compared to November of 2007 while the PC market grew 2% from the same period last year.  WSJ is reporting this as evidence that Apple has begun to suffer from the recession US consumer are going through and there is worries that this will carry into 2009.

So, should be we worried for out favorite fruity consumer electronics company?  Well, my initial reaction was to think that WSJ was likely wrong in its reporting.  Something about the data they nickpicked to make Mac sales look bad compared to the rest of the industry.  Well, this is WSJ so I'm doubting that to be the case.  This isn't Marketwatch's Dvorak after all.

Anyway, the official numbers from Apple is what count in January.  But given that Apple refreshed the Macbooks for Christmas (and the Holidays) but not the iMacs, that could have had an impact on anyone who was looking to hold off their purchase until the consumer desktop line was refreshed.

Recall that in the midst of a lot of wild rumors and speculations from Mac centric sites and supposedly responsible financial analysts (who I'm very close to putting into the same group as lawyers - not a compliment by the way), Apple specifically announced that there would be no more updates on any Apple products for the rest of 2008. 

So far, the anti-Apple forces have yet to pick up on this nor have the Apple fanboys mounted any sort of defense.  I'm sure this is only a matter of time.  Let's see if this WSJ article stands up to the coming Mac-centric onslaught.

Source:  WSJ

Note:  A virtual standstill as far as the NDP data shows, we are likely to show Mac share of the dollar increase in percentage as Mac prices have largely remain the same while PC prices have decreased a noticeable 35% to 45%, according to WSJ.

Another note:  This is retail sales.  Doesn't seem to include online sales.  How much of these retail sales are actual PCs and regular laptops and how much of these are netbooks will be interest for bloggers and FAs. 

Impact:  I've noticed a bigger discount from a larger number of Mac online retail outlets like Amazon, Maconnection, and others.  Could these discounts have moved buyers online instead of through brick-and-border stores?  Plus, with some Macs discounted by as much as $400, I'm interested in see if these discounts are extended beyond 2008.