Is Apple Feeling The Netbook Impact?

Even Apple, it seems, is not entirely immune.

Research firm NPD Group released its latest sales figures, which among other things showed pricing on laptops of both the PC and Mac variety dropped in February. The average selling price of Mac laptops fell roughly 7 percent to $1,512, according to NPD.

While that pales in comparison to the gigantic dip in the average selling price of Windows-based laptops--down 22 percent to $560, where netbooks are more clearly having an impact--a drop is still a drop.

I have to believe that the combined factors of a struggling economy and the buzzworthiness of low-cost Windows-based netbooks will make it increasingly difficult for Apple to keep its laptop prices from slumping. No doubt, diehard Mac users will remain as such and will willingly plunk down the extra dough for Apple products. But for all those "independents" and all of the current PC users who might be Mac-curious, it's not so easy to justify spending $1,000 more for Apple's cool factor when netbooks are forcing laptop PC prices down, down, down.