“After meeting with members of Apple’s executive team this week, UBS Investment Research said sales of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger could potentially double that of Panther and that a refresh to the iPod product line is on its way. The research and investment firm also believes Apple’s alliance with Motorola to develop an iPod-like cell phone could bear its fruits as early as June, and that the company’s retail segment remains the key to its overall growth,” Kasper Jade reports for AppleInsider.

“‘While Apple obviously did not reveal any new products, management still seems very confident in its market position in music and its ability to drive the ‘halo effect,” analyst Ben Reitzes said in a report following his meeting with Apple executives Peter Oppenheimer, Ron Johnson, Jon Rubinstein, and Avie Tevanian. ‘We continue to believe that it will be harder and harder for Apple to beat expectations for iPods, but remain confident in the Mac growth story that is taking shape with Tiger.’ In the fall of 2003, Apple’s previous operating system update, Panther, garnered $60 million in ‘shrink-wrap’ software revenue in its first quarter, catering to an install base of approximately 10 million. But Reitzes noted that Apple’s Mac OS X install base has surged some 50% since then to 15 million,” Jade reports.

AppleInsider also reports on the potential for future iPod updates, cell phones with iPod-like capabilities and how they will impact Apple’s iPod business, Apple’s and Motorola’s ‘iTunes phone’ efforts, and the importance of Apple’s growing retail store presence.

Full article here.