Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Desktops, Hardware, Apple Financial, Apple
Mac shipments lowest they've been in 1.5 years
Apple reported amazing earnings in its conference call last week, but SwitchtoaMac.com says not so fast -- while it's true that there was a lot of sun shining in Apple's report, there is one small shadow that they obviously didn't mention: their shipments of new Macs have started to drop off for the first time in 5.5 years. And they're the lowest they've been in a year and a half.A problem? Not a terrible one, but as you can see from the chart over there, there is a definite downturn in new Mac shipments. That might actually be good news for Apple, though -- with the economy doing a nice downturn lately, less inventory might shore up sales a bit, and keep their budgets in line with estimations. Of course it would also mean fewer Mac sales (and despite the recent popularity of the iPhone and the iPod, Macs still make up the majority of Apple's revenue), but if customers aren't there, that's better than having warehouses full of computers paid for but not actually sold.
It's definitely not a sign that the company is going down in flames (in fact, all evidence says exactly the opposite), but it may be a sign that Apple's amazing growth is slowing down a bit.
Thanks, Larry T!
Wired's Brian X. Chen writes that 
Sony announced today it plans to lay off 16,000 workers, close a handful of factories and reduce electronics investment by a third, as 
Ok, maybe not 'everyone,' but they certainly 
John Gruber
has published a glaringly well-written 
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