“Piper Jaffray Senior Analyst Gene Munster maintained an ‘outperform’ rating and $60 price target on Apple Computer as sales increase and lead time decreases for the iPod nano,” Maya Roney reports for Forbes. ‘We expect the iPod to continue to be a foundation for growth in other parts of Apple’s business, and we expect that by the end of calendar 2005 more than 37 million iPods will have shipped, providing Apple with a greater scope of awareness for various products (‘halo’ effect),’ said Munster.”

Roney reports, “The number of Macintosh computers in Amazon’s Top 10 also increased to eight from seven, setting an all-time high since Munster began tracking the Top Sellers. ‘Apple’s domination in digital music is a critical piece to the story, but we do not believe the iPod is the only growth avenue for the company,’ said the analyst.”

Full article here.

[UPDATE: 10:45pm ET: Rewrote headline to state "by the end of 2005."]

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