View this article at: http://dev.macnn.com/articles/08/02/12/piper.on.macbook.air
Tuesday, Feb 12, 2008 9:10am

Piper: MacBook Air popular,...

The arrival of the MacBook Air has produced mixed, if generally positive reseller results, say analysts at Piper Jaffray. A group of 20 third-party Apple vendors report that Air interest is "high," with 30 percent of them saying demand is similar to that when the original MacBook was released in 2006. Another 60 percent though say that demand is smaller, with people often expressing curiosity about the notebook, but tending towards the basic MacBook if choosing to buy.

Fortunate for Apple may be the news that the Air appears not to be cannibalizing sales of other Macs. Resellers explain that the computer has a smaller, separate market, composed of people who value portability even over cost; one vendor has described the Air as the first "executive Mac." Piper argues that 16 percent of Macs will be Airs by the end of 2008, although resellers are predicting a sequentially flat quarter for Macs in March, versus Piper's own estimates of 18 percent quarter-over-quarter.