“Apple Computer Inc. may have morphed into a niche computer player, catering largely to the creative community, but its iPod digital music player, loved by many, could be the ‘killer ap’ that pushes it out to the wider masses,” Donna Fuscaldo reports for Dow Jones Newswires. “At least that is what Merrill Lynch analyst Steven Milunovich predicts.”
Fuscaldo reports, “In a research report Monday, he said the success of the iPod demonstrates Apple’s ‘tech know-how and strong brand’ and could make the company ‘relevant again.’ And the iPod isn’t expected to be small business for Apple. Milunovich estimates iPod’s revenue to come in around $1 billion this year, contributing 15 cents to per-share earnings. By fiscal year 2006, the analyst said revenue for the iPod could double to $2 billion, adding 25 cents to the EPS.”
“Indeed, Apple has been enjoying success with its iPod line of digital music players. It latest installment, the iPod mini, which began shipping in February, saw more than 100,000 pre-orders, said Apple. The company’s iTunes pay-for-music download service has also been very popular, with Merrill’s Milunovich estimating roughly 30,000 songs were sold from last April through January at 99 cents each,” Fuscaldo reports. “‘We’re more optimistic in believing that iPod is not just a one-hit wonder that will be knocked off,’ said the analyst.”
Full article here.
Uhhh “30,000 songs were sold from last April through January”?!?!
I would expect better from such well paid number crunchers.
Clearly the writer is just regurgitating what she hears from her analyst or others. 30,000 songs might be per month – not the total. Also, a “killer app” by definition would be an application, not a piece of hardware. The killer app might be iTunes, but certainly not the iPod.
In a related article, Microsloth and Dell got together and produced a killer crap.
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I’ll bet when she wrote this article in Microsoft Word, the dictionary truncated the last 3 zeros of 30,000,000. I does kinda loooook like a sttuttering ttypo, doesn’t it?
yayaya
i don’t no what os is the most secured
BUT
has any1 thought of Apple being the reason Microsoft
being so dominate?
by not licensing there os to other servers
there is no choice for other computer makers
but to go to windows.
linux is no user friendly
windows is user friendly enough
and Apple os is the most user friendly
so could it be that sometime in the FUture
that Apple could be sued for not licensing there os
and letting Microsoft dominate with there flawed os
or maybe the other computer makers could just come out with there own os
Or Apple could make a new os for other computer makers
or license their older os systems?
I’m ashamed at how hard I’m laughing.
Financial analyst are very narrow minded I come to conclude, The iPod has been out for three years now and slowly but surely it got to the success it has today. Everyone underestimated the creativity of such a player, yet, now they claim that it may change the image of Apple and makes it regain some credibility. Well, Mr, why don’t you have a closer look at what is being developed by Apple. iTunes is another major success and it’s been for years while only made available for the Mac users.
Certainly, the windows users are now targeted and it makes a big difference I agree, but please, don’t presume that Apple’s credibility will be regained because of the iPod. Apple credibility is in its history, creativity, genius and amazing finish product.
What this financial expert is looking at is just the tip of the iceberg. If he thinks that the iPod is an amazing product, he probably missed checking the rest of what made Apple what it is.
That writer must have convinced her editor to run as is. Too many factual and syntactical mistakes for me.
Steven Milunovich has been nicknamed “the Loon” by the fine folks at the Register for his extreme interpretation of minor market trends. He normally reports on how either Sun will own the future of computing or how it is irrecoverably doomed.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/32883.html
Nice to hear that he’s now jumped on the Apple reporting bandwagon.
I just sent an e-mail to the NASDAQ site correcting their “info” and making a couple of points:
1) Apple sold 30,000,000 songs from launch in April until sometime in December 2003.
2) From launch until late October 2003, the only people able to use the iTMS were US users of Macintosh OS X. This would also be limited to those with broadband internet, not required but necessary. Otherwise, Apple sold most of the music to a base smaller than 10,000,000 users.
3) Since October 2003, iTunes software and the music store are now available to all users of Windows 2000 and XP and will be installed on all new consumer model HP and Compaq PCs shipping in or after June 2004.
4) Although selling 30,000,000 units in 9 months comes out to 3 and 1/3rd million a month, the actual rate has been rising at a steady rate.
It’s really amazing how sloppy many in the “news” business are.
How can you not be relevant if you have a strong brand?
Apple is very relevant to me, 20 years, I never left.
You clicked here already, or didn’t you?
That’s really funny. Apple are so irrelevant that virtually every computer company copies them (badly) on a regular basis. Some of these journalists seem to be stuck in a Groundhog Day somewhere in early 1997.
Or analysts, or whatever else I would correct if I ever learned to proof read before clicking the SUBMIT button….
Maybe I’m mistaken, but Apple still sold more Mac’s than iPod’s last year. I wouldn’t say that a company that can sell that many computers is not “relevant”.
Wasn’t it 30,000,000 ??????
To answer myself, yes it was.
Relevant? Relevant?!?!? Geez louise lady, Apple has always been relevant, Dell is just there. Microsoft is just there.
I would take it a step further and say that Apple is one of the ONLY relevent computer companies around. What has Dell invented besides a good business model? Gateway? E-Machines? In fact, the only other relevent computer company I can think of is HP. As for Apple being relevent because of the iPod, I can’t think of a bigger insult. Don’t get me wrong, I adore my iPod, but it’s still just a portable HD that plays music. The Macintosh has changed the world as we know it in so many ways. What a hack. That article was so poorly written I seriously have to wonder if Thurrott has a new nom de plume?
Maybe the disease that causes Thurrott’s madness has mutated and become contagious!
But really, to call a company irrelevant just because it only has a small share of the market is ludicrous. No wonder analysts always get things completely wrong if that’s their only criteria. Apple as a computer company is continuing to change the way we use computers and what kind of experience we get out of it. The fact that everyone else just copies means they’re the least relevant, as they don’t actually change anything in computing apart from market numbers (well, except when we’re talking about security holes and viruses and bloody awful user experiences). Were these supposedly oh so relevant companies to fade, computing would still carry on just the way it has, with Apple doing something and everyone else following and just doing a worse job at it. Would Shlonghorn have a composting display system if it weren’t for Apple? Unlikely. Would MS have redesigned the look of the interface so radically if OS X hadn’t been around. Nooooope. Would everyone be talking about the digital hub? (I’ll give you a clue: NO) and last but not least, if Apple has supposedly been so relevant, how come they’re constantly being talked about (even prior to the iPod).
Oh well, analysts. If only they would crawl back to the cesspool from whence they were spewed.
“Irrelevant” is one of those words that can apply to anything, depending on the subject at hand. Apple is irrelevant to the price of tea in China. Apple is relevant to the price of a Wintel computer in America.
I have no idea what poor Donna meant, but hopefully she was trying to connect iPod sales to Chinese tea.
ndelc“In fact, the only other relevent computer company I can think of is HP”
I’ve got one. IBM.
Or maybe two, if you count Sun.
NoPCZone, re: “It’s really amazing how sloppy many in the “news” business are.”
And that most are using a sloppy operating system may have something to do with it.
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Milunovich does very half-assed work. It’s sad that his words will resonate so loudly throughout Wall Street simply because of the Merrill name backing him up.
Dave H, thanks! How could I forget IBM??? Sun too, however I was thinking more about home/office computers.