Apple price cut causing MacBook shortage?

Apple's decision to cut prices across its MacBook lineup is about to be validated, according to an analyst's estimate.

After several months of declining Mac sales compared against 2008 numbers, Apple looks to be back on track with its June Mac shipments, says Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. His firm initially estimated that Apple would sell 2.2 million Macs during its third quarter of 2009, which ended in June. Munster now says he's "increasingly confident" in that report because Apple is having trouble keeping its new 13-inch MacBook Pro in stock.

The 13-inch MacBook was rechristened the 13-inch MacBook Pro at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference on 8 June, and at the same time, Apple lowered the price of its Mac notebook lineup, bringing the cost of the cheapest MacBook Pro, the 13-inch model, to $1,199.

Either because Apple didn't plan well enough, or customers were encouraged by the price, Apple's website shows that it's now a seven to 10 day delay to order one of the 13-inch MacBook Pro configurations.

Munster wrote in a research note on Monday: "We track product lead times and our records show that Apple has never had a 7-10 day delay on its most popular 13-inch model, with the most recent significant delay being 5-7 days over 2 years ago in 9/08.

"We see this as a sign that demand is outpacing the company's build expectations and it may take several weeks to reach a supply-demand equilibrium."

Some brick-and-mortar Apple stores were also showing shortages of the same model, he reports.

That's encouraging news for Apple, which up until June had seen its Mac sales slowly slide, albeit more gently than the rest of the PC industry. Apple desktops and laptop sales dropped in February and April, by about 1.8 per cent from the same quarter a year ago. Munster now says he believes once June sales are tallied, Macs will have actually increased one per cent for the third quarter.

Original article: Analyst: June MacBook sales boost overall Mac numbers from CNET News.com