UPDATE - Best Buy CEO: iPad hammering notebook sales hard

According to Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn, Apple's iPad is hitting notebook sales hard.

How hard? By 50%. That's very hard.

Mr. Dunn also said internal estimates showed that the iPad had cannibalized sales from laptop PCs by as much as 50%.

Notebooks are old school and boring (and a confusing minefield for the unenlightened consumer), while the iPad is shiny, exciting and new.

Good news for Apple and Best Buy, bad news for notebook makers and Microsoft.

[UPDATE: An odd turnaround on Best Buy's blog, claiming that the death of the notebook was "grossly exaggerated":

RICHFIELD, Minn., September 17, 2010 -In a statement today, Brian J. Dunn, CEO, Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY), likened recent rumors of a pending decline in notebook and netbook sales to a legendary Mark Twain-ism:

"The reports of the demise of these devices are grossly exaggerated," Dunn said. "While they were fueled in part by a comment in the Wall Street Journal that was attributed to me, they are not an accurate depiction of what we're currently seeing. In fact, we see some shifts in consumption patterns, with tablet sales being an incremental opportunity. And as we said during our recent earnings call, we believe computers will remain a very popular gift this holiday because of the very distinct and desirable benefits they offer consumers. That's why we intend to carry a broad selection of computing products and accessories to address the demand we anticipate this season."

Notice how this revised statement doesn't dismiss the 50% claim, or really say anything else ...

It's also worth pointing out that PR representatives for several OEMs, as well as Microsoft, took time to email me a link to this update.]