NPD: Mac U.S. Sales In November Fell 38 Percent

7:29 am, December 16th, 2008, Ed Sutherland

The faltering economy has caught up with Mac desktop sales. Sales of Apple desktop computers fell 38 percent in November, according to retail research firm NPD.

The figure compares to a 15 percent drop in U.S. sales of Windows desktop PCs and a 20 percent domestic cut for overall desktop sales during the past month.

Mac U.S. sales were flat in November, falling 1 percent as PC sales grew 2 percent, according to NPD. The numbers appear to reflect a consumer spending tightening and Apple’s reluctance to shift from premium prices.

While PC makers, such as HP and Dell, cut holiday prices by up to 50 percent, Apple introduced 5 percent to 10 percent discounts since December of 2007, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster told the Wall Street Journal Tuesday.

Despite shrinking sales of desktop Macs, Apple U.S. notebook sales in November outpaced Windows portables, 22 percent versus 15 percent, according to the analyst firm.

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About the author

Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.

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