“Apple’s MacBook Air will generate huge sales and retain its dominant market share despite the growing onslaught of rival ultrabooks–at least for now, says a new report from J.P. Morgan,” Lance Whitney reports for CNET.
“As other vendors try to mimic Apple’s model by introducing their own lightweight laptops, the ultrabook field stands to get increasingly crowded,” Whitney reports. “Acer, Hewlett-Packard, Sony, and other major players have all been hitting this potentially lucrative new market.”
Whitney reports, “But cost has been an issue. Most ultrabooks have been priced above $1,000 and only a few around $900. But that’s not quite low enough to make a dent in the MacBook Air, analyst Mark Moskowitz said. ‘Ultrabooks are not a competitive threat, yet,’ Moskowitz said in an investor’s note released today. ‘In general, we think that ultrabooks are highly discretionary devices, and pricing on competitive offerings must fall below $800 before posing a viable threat to Apple’s MacBook Air’ …The firm is now expecting [MacBook Air] sales as high as $7 billion over the next 12 months, or around 1.6 million units each quarter.”
Read more in the full article here.