CNBC: Apple to sell 17 million iPods in US alone in holiday quarter

“A report on CNBC last night revealed the results of a recent ‘Holiday Central’ survey. That survey indicates that Apple may sell as many as 17 million iPods in the current quarter in the US alone,” Jonny Evans reports for Macworld UK.

Evans reports, “This means that US sales could potentially generate $2.7 billion in revenue for Apple by the end of December. It also suggests that on a global basis, Apple may achieve its highest volume of iPod sales within a quarter yet… CNBC discusses the results in a video report, which is available online here.”

Full article here.

AppleInsider reports, “CNBC’s prediction of 17 million iPods falls smack in the middle of various Wall Street analyst estimates, which range from 14 million to 20 million units.”

Full article here.
Note: For last years’ holiday quarter, Apple sold a record 14.043 million iPods worldwide.

Related articles:
The Channel Checkers: 81% recommend Apple iPod – November 30, 2006
Apple shares rise to record as Mac, iPod sales surge – November 28, 2006
Analyst sees strong sales of Apple iPods over three-day kick-off to holiday shopping season – November 26, 2006
iPod shuffle sales could propel Apple iPod unit sales to record levels – November 22, 2006
Apple’s 2G iPod shuffle sees extremely high demand, 6 to 8 million units could be sold this quarter – November 19, 2006
Analyst estimates Apple will sell 14-15 million iPods in holiday quarter; says estimate could be low – November 16, 2006
Retailer survey forecasts Apple’s iPod nano as best-selling Item for Christmas 2006 – November 11, 2006

25 Comments

  1. something tells me that we will be dissappointed with the year end sale of our beloved iPod…I’m not ANALyst..but my guess is well under 10 million..far from last xmas blowout!..but I have high hopes for MacWorld 2007.

  2. I think everyone, including the analysts, are going to be quite surprised with how strong iPod sales will turn out. They always underestimate the actual sales by a wide margin, and this quarter will be no different…

  3. I say 20M iPods and 2M macs this quarter. The introduction of the new shuffle and nano was perfect timing for Apple. On the Mac side, a combination of sexy products AND finally good component / CPU supply is allowing Apple to create good and met demand.

    That will really shake the industry up. It’s going to be a good January. MWSF is going to be exciting and a superb quarterly report.

  4. 17 million? Based on what? The iPod is 5-year old technology and consumers are wise to this fact. iPods are the Ford Model T of MP3 players.

    I hate to break it to you iPod lemmings, but there’s a little something called the Zune which is going blow iPod sales figures for the holiday quarter away. The Zune is a runaway success thanks is large part to its many innovative features including FM radio, a points system to acquire content, and best of all WiFi sharing. Your anti-social iPods don’t have any of those must-have features and that is why nobody is buying them. That and Microsoft’s legendary ease-of-use and typically fantastic software development with the Zune Marketplace.

    I’d have to say Apple is the leading innovator when it comes to clips on MP3 players. Clips. Whoop-de-freakin’-do!!!

    This quarter’s prediction: 22.5 million Zunes, 13 million Sansa/Rhapsody, 2 million iPods.

    Welcome to the Social.

  5. Switched,
    I suspect your comment to Zune Tang was as tongue-in-cheek as his comment was. But, I agree with the sentiment stated! There’s no way MS could sell 22M Zunes this quarter – they can’t get half that many built! I suspect that’s also true for Sansa/Rhapsody – they might be able to ramp production up to 6.5M units … maybe, if they tried really hard. But that’s hardly the point, now, is it?

    Apple Fanatics, the Mac Faithful, are renowned for making absurd claims for how Macs will take over the world “next quarter” or “next year”. The reality is much more modest. Apple can’t make enough Macs in the next year to displace Dell or HP at the top of the heap – unless the market pancakes for everyone BUT Apple. Apple is gaining a bigger slice of a growing market, why do the fanatic faithful have to make wildly optimistic predictions?

    On Topic Comment:
    I expect the ‘general’ iPod market to grow somewhat – not much – and the new shuffle to outsell the rest of the market combined. The price is something most people can justify for a gift to a dear one and the ‘package’ is much more attractive than the pack-of-gum model. I expect shuffle sales will be limited by availability and there won’t be one left on store shelves the day before Christmas.

    DLMeyer – the Voice of G.L.Horton’s Stage Page

  6. I’m making a good contribution to the iPod economy. I bought the red [product] nano for my wife 2 months ago (anniversary present). Then she $%@#^%$& lost it! Just bought the same one for her upcoming b-day. I hope she keeps that one for at least one year!
    I wonder if they do bulk orderings…

  7. If you watch their hourly numbers, you will find 8 of the top 10 MP3 players being iPods. But this is a different buyer than a retail consumer, but does give indication of an online trend.

    Retail for Apple direct has been slower than last season. However, last year virtually every retailer was completely out of iPod models, which sent people screaming into Apple Retail stores for the entire month of December.

    This year, Apple does not have those inventory constraints (for the most part), and is keeping resellers channel filled with iPods.

    So if you are curious to overall sales of iPods, guaging by Apple Retails Stores is not the best way to go about that, as it will deliver a skewed result.

    Apple has more distribution points in the world this year than last, and has channels fully stocked. Count on this year being a 20 million iPod Christmas quarter.

  8. DLMeyer points out:

    “Apple can’t make enough Macs in the next year to displace Dell or HP at the top of the heap – unless the market pancakes for everyone BUT Apple”

    One thing though, Apple uses a lot of the same factories that other PC companies use – contract manufacturing shops in China. There isn’t a special “Apple factory” somewhere with a fixed limit on output. Google around for Hon Hai Precision (Foxconn), Quanta..

    http://investintaiwan.nat.gov.tw/en/news/200602/2006022001.html

    So, where is the Apple-specific production volume limit?

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