“Apple is the exception to what one analyst describes as a ‘permanent and structural’ collapse of PC pricing and revenue triggered by the onset of the recession and the rise of low-cost netbooks,” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune.

“TBR [Technology Business Research] analyst Ezra Gottheil documents a 13% drop in average selling price (ASP) and an 18% decline in PC revenues in the fourth quarter of calendar 2008,” Elmer-DeWitt reports.

“Apple’s unit sales also declined, or course, but what makes the company different from competitors selling Windows PCs and netbooks is that its average selling price has held remarkably steady,” Elmer-DeWitt reports. “Apple’s ASPs did drop, however — 8.1% year-to-year, from $1,532 in 4Q07 to $1,408 in 4Q08. Gottheil attributes this decline to a change in product mix.”

When Apple introduced the new MacBook in October, it drove down ASPs in two ways: it introduced a new price entry point with the MacBook White, but more important, we think, was making the $1,299 MacBook so attractive that it shifted the mix between MacBooks and MacBook Pros. – Ezra Gottheil

Regardless, “Gottheil is one of those analysts who believes Apple will eventually produce a netbook, despite Steve Jobs’ and Tim Cook’s disavowals,” Elmer-Dewitt reports.

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Kevin p." for the heads up.]