Microsoft “Laptop Hunters” Campaign Having No Effect Whatsoever on 13-inch MacBook Pro Sales
by John Paczkowski
Posted on July 7, 2009 at 7:47 AM PT
Looks like Apple may have another hit on its hands with the 13-inch MacBook Pro. The company is reportedly having a hard time keeping the machine in stock as it heads into the back-to-school buying season. And for good reason: It’s a significant upgrade at a lower price. Starting at $1,199, the MacBook Pro is $100 less than the original aluminum MacBook it replaces.
In a message to clients Tuesday, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster noted that Apple’s online store is currently showing 7 to 10 day lead times for its new lower-priced 13-inch MacBook Pros, and a number of the company’s retail stores are reporting dwindling supplies. “Our records show that Apple has never had a 7-10 day delay on its most popular 13-inch model, with the most recent significant delay being 5-7 days over 2 years ago,” Munster wrote. “We see this as a sign that demand is outpacing the company’s build expectations, and it may take several weeks to reach supply-demand equilibrium. In addition to delays at its online store, Apple retail stores are experiencing shortages in some 13-inch MacBook Pro models. Of the 10 Apple stores we contacted, 7 are short of at least one 13-inch MacBook Pro model.”
That being the case, Munster said he’s increasingly confident Apple (AAPL) will report sales of 2.2 million Macs for the June quarter. Not quite as high as the nearly 2.5 million Macs the company sold during the same period a year ago, but impressive nonetheless. We are still, after all, in a deep recession. Who said Macs are too pricey?
Comments
Some enterprising journalist – ahem, John – should do a follow-up to see how many Laptop Hunters have had virus/malware issues or sold them on eBay.
I smell a Pulitzer here.
Posted by ross richardson at July 7th, 2009 at 8:02 amThe education price for the low-end model is $1099.00.
So, I guess Mr. Ballmer was a bit off in his prediction that Macs were headed for the trash heap of history because of February’s drop of 3 percent? (The month before people expected new models to ship.)
Not feeling like Putting on the Ritz Stevie? See Young Frankensteve:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6rqXHX3O48
Posted by Eric Welch at July 7th, 2009 at 10:27 amI agree I’m looking forward to a follow-up on the Laptop Hunter people. It’s easy to put 2 notebooks next to each other with 2 price points and cheat someone because there are 10,000 variables. Let’s see what they made with their computers 6 months or a year from now.
I’m really looking forward to seeing the movie the filmmaker made with her last year’s HP business desktop. If it consists of a sequence of screen captures of Excel then she definitely got the right system.
Posted by Fred Hamranhansenhansen at July 7th, 2009 at 1:23 pm