Apple Computer Inc. said it had cut prices on two of its popular PowerBook laptop computers by as much as $300, in a move to generate more sales.
After the cut, the 12-inch PowerBook now starts at $1,599 while the 15-inch PowerBook now starts at $1,999. The price of the 17-inch PowerBook, which began shipping in March, remains unchanged at $3,299. There were no price cuts on iBooks, which start at $999.
In Apple's fiscal second quarter, the company said that 42% of the computers it sold were notebooks, compared with an industry-wide average of about 25%.
In Apple's second quarter, it sold 133,000 iBook laptops and 166,000 PowerBooks. PowerBook unit shipments in the second quarter rose 64% from the previous quarter and 87% from the year-ago quarter, Apple said.
