“Apple is expected to take deliveries of over eight million MacBook Airs in the third quarter, nearly doubling from the previous quarter, the sources estimated,” Aaron Lee and Steve Shen report for DigiTimes, citing “sources in the supply chain.”
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“Shipments of parts and components for MacBook lineups totaled an equivalent of 2.2-2.4 million MacBooks in June, and orders for July are likely to top 2.7-2.8 million units, said the sources, noting that the increase is in line with Apple’s previous strategy to ramp up deliveries prior to the launch of new products,” Lee and Shen report.
Read more in the full article here.
[Attribution: BGR. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]
I had a look at the Air but the lack of a backlit keyboard was a dealbreaker for me. I went for the MBP instead and have not regretted my decision since. I find the MBP just as easily luggable around as the Air without sacrificing HD space, RAM or a 15″ screen. I’m surprised the Air is selling as well as it is. There must be more effeminate people with limp wrists around than I realised.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
DigiTimes is yellow tabloid source, so this information does notb mean that MBA doubles sales.
Really, my 11″ air is the best MAc I have ever owned. With all the cloud storage, why do I need gigs of local storage….
I looked at bothe 13″ mbp and the 13″ air and settled on the air- superior battery life, MUCH lighter, no hard drive to wait on for boot up (10 sec. from dead off to full finder functionality! Faster than my iPad!) my wife wanted access to apps requiring more power than the first iPad, and ability to remotely manage the kids’ computer. We got a case for her air and now we never worry about it. It really is a whole differen experience than my 6lb. POC PC. I have come to seriously loathe that thing…
spoken like a true homophobe. Mom must be proud.
Right?
I would say bigot, not homophobe. Homophobe is thrown around now when it doesn’t really fit so much it is losing its meaning.
The limp wrist comment was pretty tasteless.
The SSD makes it the snappiest/most responsive of the stock configuration macs for users that don’t need the extra processor/graphics power of the MBP (read: a lot of users).
And anyone who has to carry a laptop + other stuff around all day will appreciate the weight difference. It has nothing to do with being weak or strong. If I can carry 50 lbs of stuff around, then carrying 3 lbs less of laptops means I can carry 3 lbs more of something else.
At least 50% of the human race is effeminate, although most girls don’t have very limp wrists.
Don’t let ’em get ya down BLN! Too many people are too sensitive these days and don’t appreciate humor unless it’s homogenized and sanitized first.
Back on the subject – I’ve always said that people who think the MBP is too heavy need to spend more time in the gym and less time on their laptop.
Hey Cubert! I never let the critics bother me. At most I take it that they won’t be sharing a laugh with me. Up yours brother. 😉
For one thing, once Lion is released, every unit in the channel with Snow Leopard installed is obsolete. They could be recalled to install Lion, but at significant cost.
Is that a business or technical reason to you?
Actually, Apple doesn’t need to recall the units.
a) For units already shipped to Apple retail stores, they can be upgraded and re-sealed by Apple personnel.
b) For units already shipped to non-Apple retail stores, Lion can be obtained through the up-to-date program at no additional cost to the customer.
c) For units in the stock channel, Apple can send out authorized personnel to upgrade and re-seal the units. I know they do this for at least some of the major 3rd party retailers, and presumably they do it for their own stock as well.
I think the biggest reason is psychological. No one wants to buy a brand new computer (especially a new model) only to have it need an OS upgrade in a month. Even though there’s no real difference between a computer that shipped with 10.7 and one that was upgraded from 10.6->10.7, many people perceive a difference.
Plus, as you say, it’s much more efficient to just image the things with 10.7 in the first place rather than spend the resources to upgrade them later (though I don’t think it’s as expensive as you’re thinking).
8 million Airs? If find it improbable because Apple only sold 3.76 million Macs in total last quarter. As a share holder I’d love it to be true but this seems way out of line of the normal 25-30% Mac growth.
I was thinking the same thing.
I think this would only make sense if they are significantly dropping the pricepoint or something. I could see them moving 8 million if they dropped it to, say, $699 for the 64GB model.
Yup something is wrong with that number. Unless it is for the rest of the year.
Maybe Apple are dropping the price to 699 and are expecting a landslide.
You heard it first here. I expect this to be a new rumor in a few days.
This is shocking !!
AMD claims it Fusion platform sold 5 million units for ultraportables in one quarter .
Apple to sell just 3 million is shocking .
Guess coat is everything eh
I know the drill about iCloud – less local space needed, but I’d sure like to see an option for a bigger SSD anyway. At the very least, a BTO option for 8GB RAM. I have the 2010 13″ MBA and I love it, but I really need more than just 4GB of RAM. The Sandy Bridge processors are supposed to support it, so why not?
And before anyone says that I should have gone with a MB Pro, I went with the Air because I travel all the time. It’s so light and does the job for me – most of the time I don’t have a problem with memory, but sometimes I do.
Hey Ballmer,
Time to revise your marketshare numbers again. Sorry to have to make you use Excel.
Signed,
World.
One avantage, I hope, of buying a new iMac with Snow Leopard this summer: I will have the right to the Lion upgrade for free, yes? And this upgrade will be usable for my present MacBook too, isn’t it?
So a 29.99 $ economy…