Apple strengthens its position in PC market in February

Data from NPD Group indicates that Macs accounted for about one out of every eight computers sold during the month of February in the US.

Apple garnered a 14 percent unit share during the month, a 60 percent year-over-year increase. Apple also took a quarter of all dollar revenues during February, NPD says. This higher percentage of dollar sales is due to Apple's generally higher prices than its competitors.

Revenue for Apple jumped 67 percent over last year. This increase is dramatically higher than the industry as a whole, which saw a nine percent increase in unit sales and a five percent increase in revenues from February 2007.

Portable sales were up 64 percent, and desktop sales increased 55 percent, easily beating the rest of the industry which saw only a 20 percent increase and five percent drop respectively. Apple's strength continues to indicate that the company is making serious inroads among traditional Windows users.

Analysts say the impressive numbers on the notebook side of the market seem to indicate that sales of the MacBook Air may be high. Additionally, the iMac seems to be continuing to sell well, suggesting that many may not be ready to drop the desktop for the laptop just yet.

Sales of the iPod may not be as rosy. Based on data provided by NPD, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said that quarterly sales should become essentially static. NPD seems to suggest that iPod sales will be between 9.7-10.5 million, a 4 percent decline against last year's midpoint.