The economic crisis is even forcing Apple to open a summer sale that looks like it’s here to stay. The Californian electronics company recently cut prices from 5% to 15% on most MacBook laptops, from the 13-inch machine now dubbed MacBook Pro, to the slim MacBook Air. The revamped MacBooks include SD card slots for convenient photo and video downloading and built-in batteries that will last up to seven hours.
Apple also announced that its new Macintosh operating system, Snow Leopard, will go on sale in September for just $29 (£18), which is $100 (£61) less than the last operating system makeover, Leopard.
“We are surprised by Apple’s aggressive reductions,” analyst Gene Munster says.
The moves reflect reduced component costs, dramatic price cuts among laptop competitors and a recession that has lead to a 7% first-quarter drop in global PC sales according to the technology research firm IDC. During that period, Apple’s US market share slipped 1.2% whilst in the second quarter, laptop sales were down 2% and desktops down 4%.
“Lowering their prices was a big move for them,” IDC analyst Richard Shim says. “When a lot of your competitors are lowering their prices, you look ridiculous when you are too far above the fray. They’ve got to respond to the market.”
Nevertheless, MacBooks remain in the higher echelons when it comes to price. Apple’s least expensive model is the $999 white laptop with a polycarbonate plastic exterior. Some competitors’ notebooks — the mini-laptops that became popular after Asus launched its Eee PC brand — sell for around $300. And regular non-Apple laptops running on Windows are going for $500 to $800.
“This pricing activity is really only incremental,” said Stephen Baker, vice president at NPD Group, which tracks the retail industry. “Apple isn’t trying to compete in the bargain basement of the PC market, nor is it expanding its distribution to outlets that might have a lower-price reputation. That would be damaging to its premium brand.”

Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook backed this stance when quizzed on whether the company would be looking to produce budget alternatives to suit the current climate: “When I look at what is being sold in the laptop space today, I see cramped keyboards, terrible software, junky hardware, very small screens — and just not a consumer experience, and not something that we would put the Mac brand on, quite frankly,” he said. “It is a segment we would choose not to play in.”