Business Insider posted an interesting chart of Apple Mac sales with an eye on Windows releases. BI's quoted analysts claim that Mac sales shoot up with the introduction of each new version of Windows—which would be an interesting statistic, if it were at all true. We're not sure which chart they're looking at, but to us, there's absolutely no such trend. In fact, the reverse might even be true: Apple's sales have generally been increasing since a low point in mid-2000, but Apple sales have actually decreased in the quarter immediately following the release of Windows 2000, XP and Vista.

Braodpoint analyst Brian Marshall sees that as a "delayed accelerant." How do I see it? I think Marshall is looking for a specific conclusion which the data doesn't bear out, even a little. Mac sales have just been increasing in general since mid-2000, and there's absolutely no indication that Windows releases have had any positive effect on those numbers. [Business Insider]