"People aren't going to spend a lot of money on fancy Mac computers," says Leander Kahney, Wired Magazine.
Apple stock dropping18 percent didn't' necessarily surprise 'Wired' editor and tech analyst Leander Kahney. He has written two books on Apple. Kahney believes that expensive Apple computer products like the iPhone and iPod are going to be scratched off Christmas shopping lists this season. He agrees with Wall Street analysts, who downgraded Apple stock even before the market began to plunge.
"They're worried that a slowdown in consumer spending is going to hurt Apple in particular because they rely on people having disposable income."
Ironically, Apple stock suffered worse decline eight years ago today. On September 29 of 2000, their stock dropped almost 52 percent.
Consumers we spoke to in Silicon Valley say they've been curbing their spending since banks and other financial institutions began their slide. San Jose engineer David Alexander won't spend much this holiday. His gift budget is directly tied to the plummeting stock market.
"At my company, they give stock as part of my compensation and my stock is going down the toilet," says Alexander.
Hilary Ludwig thinks people should continue to spend, but wisely.
"I don't think that not spending is going to help the economy move in the right direction, so I'm going to keep up my regular habits."
Analysts believe that a lack of consumer confidence already shows in today's Silicon Valley tech stock figures. Apple isn't alone. PC maker Hewlett Packard is down 8 percent. Chip makers AMD dropped 17 percent and Intel dropped 6 percent.
Analysts say that most of these tech companies have billions of dollars banked away for situations like this. For those market analysts, it's not whether these tech companies survive, but when they thrive again.
