Analyst: Mac sales "massive" for back-to-school period

Apple will sell 3.04 million Macs in the September quarter -- up 41% year-over-year and 22% quarter-over-quarter -- according to RBC analyst Mike Abramsky. The reason for the astounding jump? Among other things, Apple's yearly back-to-school promotion that is offering up a free iPod Touch -- normally $299 -- with most Mac purchases.

On top of encouraging Mac sales, the promotion will get the iPod Touch -- a big part of Apple's "mainstream wi-fi platform" -- into the hands of thousands of college students.

Abramsky's data comes from RBC's technology adoption survey which reflects "massive Mac sales ... demonstrating resilience despite a sluggish consumer spending environment." RBC expects Apple's global market share to top 4.2% in 2009, a huge increase from 2.9% in 2007.

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