The research department of Concord Securities has reportedly predicted that the MacBook Air will account for 17 percent of an estimated 4.1 million Mac shipments this fall. In addition, Mingchi Kuo, vice president of the firm’s research department, believes the new, smaller model with an 11.6-inch screen will account for 60 percent of MacBook Air sales.
With better battery life, instant-on and SSD features, the new MacBook Air line is more competitive than ever. With the lowered price points, Apple has moved the MacBook Air line from the high end of the product line to the low end, creating a much larger market for the slim notebook.
The prediction about the 11.6-inch model outselling the 13-inch one is interesting, and I think will prove to be accurate. The 13-inch MacBook Pro is a far more powerful machine for less money, and I think Mac customers have wanted something to replace the 12-inch PowerBook G4 for a long time.
With the holidays approaching, the new MacBook Airs should sell well — much better than before, when the machines were more expensive. Will Apple sell 700k of them? We’ll see.
Either way, I think that AAPL will continue to climb.
