• Forbes, Business Week, Los Angeles Times, Wednesday, March 4, 2009 11 AM

Apple announced a refreshed desktop line today and a price cut of its new 24-inch MacPro by a few hundred dollars, and bloggers at the business news magazines wonder if it is living in a world of its own. The heds on Brian Caufield's post on the Forbes site read: "Why Apple is living in denial. The computer- and gizmo-maker fiddles with its Mac lineup as the world economy burns."

But, Caufield points out, Apple's strategy of not panicking has worked so far. Rather than compete with $300 netbooks, for example, its $229 iPod Touch can surf the Web, check your email and be slipped into your pocket.

Business Week's Peter Burrows says the announcements were a nice surprise, but "this one feels about as exciting as getting a new necktie for Christmas." He thinks the only way to get people buying a lot more Macs would be for the company to slash prices or really crank up on innovation. "It doesn't feel like it has achieved either with its desktop line," he writes.

But innovation doesn't necessary seal the deal either. Melinda Gates tells Vogue that she wouldn't mind an iPhone but she and husband Bill have banned them and iPods from their house, according to a story in the Los Angeles Times.

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