Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) may be planning a touch-screen netbook computer, according to several sources. Apple, which has had a ho-hum stance on the rapidly-growing netbook market in the past, may be close to deciding that it could indeed enter into the fray and probably take some sales away from the $500 or $600 netbook (and notebook) market.

Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has declined to compete in the netbook PC space, with CEO Steve Jobs still on the sidelines on when (or if) Apple will ever make such a device. Although netbooks were the only shining light in the last half of 2008 PC sales, the margins are not nearly as nice as other products. But hey, any growth is good growth, right?t?

When Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) starts discounting the normally un-discountable Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) MacBook laptop computer, we know it's a tough selling season. That's just what the largest consumer electronics retailer has done, though, as the cheapest MacBook being sold right now comes in at under $900. Until now, that's an unheard of price from any retailer.

Apple's grip on the MAP (minimum advertised price) for all retailers is strong. It's not known for heavy discounts -- or any discounts at all, actually. Apple's pricing arrogance, though, is part of what makes it so desirable. Talk to any salesperson who sells premium-priced products for a lecture on this if you'd like. Even so, Apple has had to cool its jets just this week on pricing at its own retail stores.

Then again, this is no normal retail landscape. Holiday retail sales are expected to be very bad and sales will be necessary to keep inventory turns up and product flowing. Sometimes they have to be made at any cost. The older Apple MacBook, which is still being sold even though newer models were just announced and released in October, is now being sold for $899. That's a full $100 under Apple's suggested list price. While it doesn't sound like a big discount, it is for an Apple system.

You'll notice that usually you don't see iPods or iPhones being discounted more than a dollar or two off Apple's list price. There's a reason for that, but it makes this $100 cut even more interesting. And some of the more pricier MacBooks being sold at Best Buy saw $100 and even $150 price cuts as well. Even Apple can't maintain its pricing smugness in this economy and keep sell-through where it needs it to be. Yes, there are market and purchasing conditions that can even pinch Apple, folks.

The end of 2007 was especially good for Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) this year, as the company's Mac line of personal desktop and laptop computers broke the 8% market share for the first time ever during the final two days of 2007, according to Net Applications, a web measurement firm.

That's right -- Apple now has 8% of the PC marketplace. For a company that has been considered a 'niche' brand in the sector since, well, since forever, this is a huge achievement. Keep in mind, though, that this data do not represent sales numbers from global retailers as what is generally used for market share references.

Net Applications saw 7.3% of the 40,000 websites it monitors browsed by Apple machines in December. Again, this data isn't indicative of machines that browsed all, but a small collection of 40,000.

Still, this sample represents a good set of what Apple was able to accomplish last month. On December 30 and 31, the sites monitored by Net Applications saw Apple machines representing 8.01% of all machines. Not to fear, Windows lovers -- Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) venerable operating system represented 91.8% market share in December (although it was down from November's 92.4%).

This past Monday, Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) was still open for business like it always is. There is no "shutting down" on the internet like there is in the real, brick-and-mortar shopping world. What on earth was being bought on Christmas Eve? Not Christmas presents -- those are already under the tree. Gifts for other holidays? Possibly -- but you better select "expedited shipping" when checking out.

When it came to PCs being sold at Amazon's website a few days ago, the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) MacBook made its mark as the #1 PC seller at the world's largest online retailer. Not Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) -- which held the 2nd and 3rd spots -- not Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) (which is not sold at Amazon), and not Gateway (now part of Acer). That design iconoclast and superbly-marketed Apple machine was perched at the top. Not the iPod or the iPhone, but the fully-fledged MacBook laptop PC.

In what could be seen as the real "breakout" year for Apple laptop computers in 2008, Apple's entry-level MacBook laptop was even priced at $300 and $500 more than the HP systems which were below it in sales. Right now, HP is the world's largest laptop PC seller, as it's in most retailer outlets, has a strong web sales presence and has aggressive pricing to boot. Apple's systems, though, continue to set the standard in cool design and "wow" factor, similar to the iPod and iPhone products that were hot sellers this holiday season. Will the MacBooks stay at the top of Amazon's PC sales chart in 2008? Steve Jobs sure hopes so.

With the announcement of Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL)'s new colorful laptops and the re-branding of some of its desktops, the computer maker is attempting to re-ignite excitement in its dull product lineup at the exact right time it needs to. I'm quite sure that Michael Dell's recent executive hires were given marching orders to get things underway as soon as possible, and here we are at the start of those results. I've referenced Dell's new strategy a few times in the last couple of days, but what's new here is what could be perceived as Dell's initial attempt to take on the "style and substance" market that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is famous for.

Dell's newer XPS laptops, as noted by Rob Enderle here, are more reminiscent of Apple MacBooks and upper-crust Sony laptop computer systems than kludgy and boring Dell laptop systems. This is a good thing, as even Apple does not have color options in its laptop selections right now -- it's either white or black. Same for Sony's venerable Vaio line, which has great design but few options for specific color personalization. What Dell has going for it is the mainstay of its business model for nearly two decades: selling direct to the customer. If Dell can sell many different options in terms of colors, materials and looks for its laptops direct to the customer and not attack retail (where inventory turns on custom products are really hard to predict), Dell may have a chance to become much more relevant that it has been in the last five years.

So, Dell may be starting, just this week, with a specific, multi-pronged approach: starting a small retail experiment with the world's largest retailer (as of June 10th) while simultaneously trying to court the "Apple-type" customer who may choose to opt for those new colors, aluminum plates and svelte lines in a laptop. The key difference here is availability: Apple's laptops, like the MacBook and MacBook Pro, are sold online and in stores and in Apple's retail stores (and other retailers). Apple's gems are also only available in white or black. By contrast, Dell's new XPS laptop systems are, for now, only available from the company's website (consumer direct sales), and will come in many more colors than just white or black. Will customers bite at these new Dell systems? Hard to say this week, but I'll be paying close attention.

Apple ended the day at $67.62, up $1.06. Part of this might be due to the Digitimes report that Apple's Q2 laptop shipments were 60% higher than last year's Q2 laptop shipments, and that Apple's laptop marketshare is sitting at a nice 4%, mostly thanks to the MacBook's stellar appeal to customers.

That being said, it still looks rough out there for Apple with stories still appearing about the shareholder suit, although in a new twist, IDG's own sub-headline is 'Biting the fruit that feeds them?' It may be that some investors feel that the suit is an over reaction.