Responding to the slowing economy, Apple Inc. (AAPL) announced a new MacBook notebook computer that will sell for less than $1,000.

The move on the part of Apple comes amid expectations that the PC industry will see bleak holiday sales this season. With consumers struggling to stay in their homes and heating prices expected to set record highs, many industry watchers predict sales of PCs will take a big hit. The back-to-school and holiday seasons are the most important six months for computer manufacturers.

Speaking at an event at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., MarketWatch reported Chief Executive Steve Jobs said the notebooks will use a new chip from Nvidia (NVDA) and will be priced at $999. The company will also launch new MacBook Pros that will be priced at $1,999 and $2,499.

“Given the current economic situation they can’t try to live on the premium,” said Rob Enderle, founder of market research firm Enderle Group. “Apple is correctly responding to the threat,” of lower cost PCs, he said.

Apple’s foray into sub $1000 notebooks marks a new strategy on the part of the computer and entertainment company, which up until now has only churned out higher priced computers. But with the economy struggling Apple ran the risk of becoming too far out of reach for many consumers.

“Apple is not Bentley, its Cadillac. With the market shifting there’s the danger of it becoming Bentley and that threat is to extreme for them,” said Enderle. Enderle attributed the decline in Apple’s stock in recent days to concerns about the consumer market. He said worries abound that sales will plummet in the fourth quarter because of Apple’s dependency on the U.S. consumer.

Recently shares of Apple were trading down 2.64% or $2.92 to $107.34.

Roger Kay, founder of Endpoint Technologies Associates, warned that this holiday season, buyers are likely to move toward the lower end of the market, which underscores Apple’s need to adapt.

In a research report Kay said this holiday season “will be like no other in recent times.” He said all indications point to consumers shopping cautiously, which means higher price products will feel most of the pain.  

“Products like expensive flat panel TVs, fancy notebooks, gaming desktops and high end phones will likely remain on the shelves in unprecedented numbers,” said Kay. “Best-positioned will be items under $200.”

While it is very doubtful that Apple will ever sell a computer for as low as $200, there is a new crop of notebook computers called Netbooks that are growing in popularity and sell for under $500. These laptop computers, used primarily to surf the Web, have 10-inch screens, are lightweight and run Windows of Linux operating systems. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) is selling one starting at $499, while Dell (DELL) is selling one starting at $349.

“Right now, netbooks have been a hot product,” said Enderle. “They exemplify 'adequate.' They are very small, very portable and great for email and browsing the Web.”