Changewave - MacBook Sales Continue to Grow

Changewave Research has some interesting charts for the tech-focused, revealing that Apple continues to have strong notebook sales (most likely thanks to the introduction of the unibody family), but not as strong desktop sales. However, while netbook sales continue to be on the rise for companies such as Acer, ASUS, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Dell, Changewave Research claims that Apple manages to fill this gap with its iPhone.

“Within the weaker overall PC spending environment, Apple planned laptop purchases (30%) for the next 90 days have improved 3-pts since our previous survey in January,” says Changewave Research. “At the same time, planned desktop purchases (26%) have dipped 2-pts.,” the analysis goes (a graph complementing these assertions can be found below).




In contrast, “HP’s visibility appears steady going forward, with planned desktop purchases (28%) holding their outsized gains from the previous survey. Planned laptops (22%) have dipped 1-pt,” Changewave states.

The research firm also claims that demand for netbooks remains firm, with its previous survey showing “low-cost, highly portable laptops with smaller screens - popularly known as Netbooks,” the company explains. According to Changewave, “[Netbooks] are one of the few beneficiaries of this tough spending environment. The latest results reinforce this finding.”
 
“Among respondents who have bought a laptop in the past 90 days, 17% say it was a Netbook – better than one in every six laptops purchased during this time period,” Changewave figures have showed. “Looking ahead, 18% say the laptop they plan on buying in the next 90 days will be a Netbook – which is 4-pts higher than in January,” reads the PDF report.

Interestingly, Changewave also notes that, while Acer, ASUS, Hewlett-Packard and Dell are the only ones leading the Netbook market, Apple may have indirectly tapped that market with its iPhone.

“While Apple has shown little interest in pursuing this market to date, we note that some Apple users consider the iPhone to be a form of Netbook,” Changewave concludes.