According to a Tuesday announcement made by analyst firm NPD Group, Apple computer sales in US retail stores, measured in units sold, fell six percent in January from the same month last year, while the iPod sales fell 14 percent. Moreover it turns out that Apple's market share dropped to 13.7 percent from 16.4 percent.

NPD vice president and industry analyst Stephen Baker believes Apple's core problem is not about Jobs, but rather the thorn in every company's side: the crumbling economy. "To some extent, Apple has been struggling in the last few months -- there were some issues with overall pricing problems during the holidays and afterward," he said. Those issues, Baker said, have nothing to do with Apple product quality, but the willingness of consumers to open their wallets.

Moreover Apple desktop sales have been weaker than other companies over the last four months, Baker said, and have fallen more than 30 percent, a problem that once again ties into pricing.

At the same time, AppleInsider has coverage of Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster's initial figures, which suggest that although Apple is being impacted by the recession, the company is faring fairly well compared to its 2008 numbers and to the overall market.

As far as iPhones, iPods, and Apple TVs are concerned, Munster has iPod sales pegged at 9 to 10 million units, a drop of either 15 or 6 percent from the Q2 2008 iPod sales of 10.6 million. However iPhone sales are still expected to rise, and Munster's predicted figure of 4.4 million would represent growth over both Q2 2008 and Q1 2009. Last but not least, the Apple TV should sell "three times" as many units as it did in Q2 2008 for a whopping total of nine or so units this quarter.