NDP Group researchers have pulled out their geeky pocket calculators and Vegas style visors to work out that Mac sales have dropped 6 percent in January.

The drop is attributed to the economic slowdown, which seems to be affecting the smug just as bad as the rest of us. Beancounters found that PC sales in the same period jumped by 16 percent, in spite of the downturn, and iMac sales are falling three times as fast as sales of plain PCs.

Analysts blame obsolescence of several key Apple products for the trend, mailny iMac desktops and the Mac mini. Apple is also steering clear of netbooks, and says it's not interested in making cheap stuff. "We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that," said Steve Jobs.

So far Apple did just fine selling $500 computers for $1000, so we really don't see why it can't do the same when it comes to netbooks.

More here.