MacBook sales stronger than expected?

According to a report by DigiTimes, which has been known to waver in accuracy with its predictions on the Mac maker, Apple increased shipments of the 13-inch notebooks from manufacturing partner Asustek to about 120,000 units in June.

The shipments are said to be up from 100,000 units a month in the two previous months, which presumably includes a manufacturing ramp in April, prior to the computer's release in May.

"Shipments will continue to increase in the second half as Apple's competitive pricing for MacBooks will continue to stimulate demand," the report states. "For all of 2006, Apple may deliver two million iBook and MacBook laptops in addition to one million MacBook Pro notebooks."

Sales of 3 million notebooks during 2006 would represent a 39 percent increase from the 2.16 million units shipped in 2005.

However, the Chinese-language Commercial Times on Monday reported that Asustek's shipments of MacBooks reached 300,000 units in June, up from 200,000 in May and 100,000 in April.

For its part in the rumors, DigiTimes says it "doubts" that Asustek's MacBook shipments could have reached 300,000 units in June, stating that the estimated figure would be much higher than industry projections for Apple's total MacBooks shipments for 2006.

Asustek declined to comment on the reports, citing client confidentiality.