"Going forward, planned consumer electronics spending is at near-record lows for a ChangeWave survey. Just 15% of respondents say they'll spend more on electronics over the next 90 days compared to 34% who say they'll spend less. The net difference between these numbers (-19-pts) is 13-pts lower than at the same time a year ago (Aug 2007)."

Insight - Apple Mac versus PC purchase plans
Carton notes that the ChangeWave data demonstrates that PC buying among consumers is still weak  but planned purchases of Apple Macs is at a new all-time high.  Some key quotes from the article:

"just 8% of respondents planning to buy a laptop in the next 90 days and 5% a desktop - down 2-pts from a year ago (August 2007)."

"Apple planned purchases for the next 90 days have hit a new all-time high for both Laptops (34%; up 2-pts) and Desktops (30%; up 3-pts)."

Planned PC purchased on the other hand are trending downward since the July survey
"When it comes to Apple's competition, Dell (DELL) PCs appear little changed from our July survey results - with planned purchases of Laptops (28%) down 4-pts and Desktops (28%) up 3-pts. Moreover, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) has also experienced a noticeable decline since July in planned Laptop purchases (20%; down 4-pts) and Desktop purchases (17%; down 3-pts).

"We note that almost 70% of HP's sales come from outside the U.S. - whereas our ChangeWave surveys focus primarily on the U.S. mark"

Clearly, Apple is winning over the future buying plans of consumers.  It is no surprise to us at Switch To A Mac as we've been advocating the switch for years.  In addition, we've held the position for several years that Apple was to embark on a growth cycle which would see it's market share grow significantly.  These expectations continue to be met.

Evidence of an iPhone halo
The ChangeWave survey data also provides new evidence of the iPhone halo effect.  Buyers indicated that they would be more willing to purchase a Mac as a result of the iPhone.  Specifically:

"We also asked whether Apple's recent release of its 3G iPhone has made respondents more or less likely to buy an Apple Mac computer in the future. A total of 17% say they're now more likely to buy an Apple laptop or desktop in the future because of the 3G iPhone; only 1% said less likely. These highly positive findings point to the 3G iPhone having at least some "Halo" effect on Mac sales going forward"

Thus, the survey data demonstrates that although consumer spending will remain weak over the next 90 or so days, Apple is likely to buck the trend.

You can read the Seeking Alpha article in its entirety here.