Apple Notebook Sales Slip in February

Appleis U.S. notebook sales slipped slightly in February, according to ITWorld.

Despite excellent iPod sales, the Appleis U.S. shipments of notebooks slipped slightly in February, and thatis not good news. "...in January 2007 the company [Apple] was ranked in fifth place for total dollar volume and unit share of laptop sales, with 10.1 percent of the U.S. laptop sales in that month, preceded by Gateway, Lenovo, Toshiba and HP in first place," the report said.

However, in February Apple slipped to 7.4 percent, placing them sixth, just behind Lenovo at 7.7 percent. HP remained first with 28.5 percent of the U.S. market.

TMO verified the numbers with John Jacobs, Director of Notebook Market Research at DisplaySearch, a subsidiary of NPD. DisplaySearch tracks all sales except for discount outlets -- which have negligible sales compared to the all the other channels.

However, Mr. Jacobs pointed out that Apple has had steady, even dramatic, year-over-year growth in notebook sales, and thatis whatis important. Small fluctuations due to seasonal buying habits are typical.