It's hard to tell whether it was the Associate Press or New York Times that made this particular bungle. In the brief story, someone is asserting that some survey results (What? You want the questions? The study methodology? Something to tell you if it's valid or not?) suggested that laptops accounted for more than 54% of the nearly $500 million in retail computer sales in May. A spokesman for the group that performed the survey said that the surge in laptop sales was because more people want to be able to transport a personal computer.
Notice that the gross sales are provided in dollars. Anyone who watches the market has noticed that desktop prices have plunged - particular in the price-sensitive retail market. The lowest end desktop will run $500 to $600, at least the ones I've seen. But laptops, as far as I can tell, are typically $900 to $1000 and up. Prices running that much higher per unit could mean that a much smaller number of laptops could, potentially, overtake the dollar sales of the desktops. In that case, desktops would still outsell laptops in number of units, and the whole rationale of wanting to transport a personal computer would seem questionable. Did anyone ask that question? Who knows?
4:23:42 PM 
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