Apple Cuts Notebook Price Below $1,000

CUPERTINO, California (Reuters) – Apple Incon Tuesday cut the price on its entry-level notebook computer to $999in a move expected to attract budget-minded buyers at a time whenrecession fears loom over the global economy.

Apple also showed off a new line of aluminum MacBook notebooks starting at $1,299.

Shares of Apple, which have risen about 20 percent since the companylast week invited media to a notebook event, fell 5 percent in heavytrade on the Nasdaq to $104.64. Many analysts had expected theentry-level notebook price to fall to $899.

"Bad for the stock today, good for the stock over the next couple ofmonths," said Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who said that the newmachines looked good even if the new entry-level price was not as lowas Wall Street had hoped.

The $999 price will be for an updated model of its white-bodynotebooks. The new aluminum machines will use Nvidia Corp graphics andIntel Corp processors.

When asked if Apple would get into the market for small ‘netbook’notebook computers, Chief Executive Steve Jobs said, "It’s a nascentmarket" and that Apple would see how it went.