Nothing Sadder Than to Awake Christmas Morning and Not Be a Mac User

A third of all consumers (33 percent) who said that they were planning on buying a laptop in the next three months intend to buy one of Apple’s MacBooks, and nearly a third of those in the market for a desktop (27 percent) plan to purchase one of its Mac Pros, according to new data from ChangeWave. This, despite an ugly dip in spending that threatens to turn the upcoming holidays into lean ones for all. A solid majority, 59 percent of ChangeWave study respondents, say they will spend less in the next 90 days despite the holidays. Just 10 percent say they will spend more. “There’s been a massive breakdown in consumer spending plans going forward,” said ChangeWave research director Paul Carton. “We’ve never seen anything like it. It’s going to be a very tough holiday season.”

Tougher for some than others, though. Well, one other: Apple (AAPL). “We do see Apple’s numbers looking better going forward, over the next 90 days,” said Carton. “Apple will clearly come out of this as the biggest tree in the forest. They’ll be in extraordinary shape compared to everyone else when things improve. I don’t think that Apple can escape the enormity of this downturn in the short run, but in the big picture, I think [these numbers] are wonderful news for Apple. It’s not easy to increase market share in one of the worst spending environments in years.”

No, it’s not. Though Apple’s steady and significant growth suggests otherwise. As Apple COO Tim Cook noted at the company’s October notebook event, “If you look at the history, the Mac has outgrown the market for the last 14 of 15 quarters.”