“Banc of America Securities expects Apple Computer to meet the consensus estimate for iPod sales of 5.5 million units in the fiscal third quarter ending in June,” Forbes reports.
BofA expects Apple’s iPod business will reaccelerate into the seasonally strong September and December quarters. The firm said:
“Apple’s domination in digital music is a critical piece to the story, but we do not believe iPod is the only growth avenue for the company. Indirectly, we expect 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 35 million iPods will have shipped, providing Apple with a greater scope of awareness for various products.”
BofA said that the iPod Halo Effect seems to have taken place, noting that 1.07 million Macintosh computers shipped in the March quarter and noted a report from NPD that shows that Apple gained 2% in U.S. retail market share in the month of May.
MacDailyNews Take: 5.5 million iPod unit sold would be very strong performance in a historically weak quarter (there must have been a lot of moms and grads and dads getting Apple iPods). If these estimates are even remotely accurate, Apple sold it’s 20 millionth iPod sometime in early June and will have sold a total of about 21.5 million iPods by the end of this month. Apple Computer is due to report Q3 05 financial results on July 13.
Warming: Do not declare war to ipod, or ipod beater
iPod rules!!!
If my health club is any resource, the iPods are growing growing growing! Boy, I have had my 2G iPod for about 2 1/2 years now, and there was only one or 2 people I saw that had them – I was there last night, and I would honestly say 1 in 3 headsets were iPods.
It’s a beauty of a product…
And again this proves the rule that Apple is currently doubling the cumulative number of iPods sold every 180 days.
In reality, this means that Apple could very easily sell 20 million iPods in the second half of the calendar year although, as a moving average, the figure is far more likely to be between 25 and 30 million units in my opinion.
And if the halo effect really takes off during 2005, the Mactel switch in 2006 could turn out to be a watershed year for Apple shareholders.
So, what’s the iPod killer dujour?
MW mother, as in the iPod + iTunes is one bad mother combination
I’ve seen the same thing at my gym. I think also some guy who had anthoer brand has now got an ipod. Both my brothers in law now have ipods and love them. I’m still debating buying one fo my dad. Maybe for Xmas.
HEADLINE: Apple passed 20 million iPods
That sounds painful. Congratulations, Apple.
Finally got my ‘pod last March (40GB Photo)… and a G5 a month later. Then got an Mini-pod and a Mini-Mac for each of the kids.
Now the wife is saying “hey, can those things play Maroon 5?…”
Our garbage man thinks he works in Cupertino.
Life is good. (And car payments REALLY suck.)
Also, can we please stop hearing about the halo effect and how it’s gonna start showing up any minute?
It’s a myth. There’s no evidence it ever existed, and no reason to believe it ever will. Just market and sell the Macs as good computers, and market and sell the iPods as good mp3 players. And make sure they both work.
Good.
I just got an email from Balleys, my health club, offering 50 free songs from iTunes, for signing up a friend.
PC Apologist –
I firmly believe that the plan behind the ‘halo effect’ is for it to be a self fulfilling prophecy –
publicize the hell out of ‘the halo effect’ while quietly opening retail stores EVERYWHERE
The ‘Halo Effect’ becomes great free publicity for iPods (Hm – if an ipod is so good that it makes people buy a new computer, maybe I should get an ipod…) and for macs (Hm – I have an ipod, it really is good, I’ve heard about this halo thing, maybe I should check out a mac.)
I don’t think the halo effect would have existed without articles written about it and increasing retail outlets, but now it is real.
PC Apologists — hey, I bought two Macs, my first Macs *ever*, after getting a 40GB iPod for my birthday. I can tell you, the iPod halo effect is real – if for no other reason than it brings greater awareness of the Apple brand. Now, it wasn’t that I had never heard of the Mac until the iPod became popular. It was that I felt better about Apple as a computer company I could invest in. I felt confident that things are changing and the Mac is going places. It inspires confidence in the other products Apple sells.
And I can honestly say, since dumping Windows for the Mac, our family could not be happier — well, we do have one problem. We want at least one more Mac (bringing the total to 3) but, as family budgets go, we’ll have to wait a while longer. 🙁
Sigh… To the malcontents: does it really MATTER whether or not the “halo effect” exists? iPod sales are going up. Mac sales are going up. Some analysts want to draw a correlation between the two. They have their reasons — they’re not just pulling the conclusion out of their butts.
But does it MATTER? As long as sales keep going up, I don’t give a flip WHY. Maybe the Windows switchers think Macs are filled with delicious candy. Who cares?
If iPod sales come in at 5.5 million that would be huge for the June Quarter.
A quick trip to Amazon and a review of computer add-on 100 Top Sellers indicate iPods in #3, #4, #10, #22, #25, #32, #33, #35, and #78 place for MP3 Players.
Only two competing players are listed at #41, a iRiver Flash MP3 player at $156.74 and #81, a San Disk 256 MB Flash player at $67.99.
What is happening with the competition, sales apparently are dropping….will iPod share actually get even larger this quarter.
BTW iPod accessories occupy #13, #13, #21, #30, #31, #37, #46, #47, #49, #54, #59, #77, #89, #93, #96. what an amazing market for an army of developers supporting iPod sales.
PS: Apple totally domininate the 20 Top Sellers in the computer category occupying #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #8, #9, #11, #15, #18, #19, #20 positions. This is going to be a tremendous quarter for Apple. a). The “halo effect” is real, b). the PPC to Intel switch is not disrupting Mac sales, c). Apple is clicking on all frontws d). the best is yet to come.
Thanks MacDan. It’s great having people like you on board.
From my personal experience, it is getting easier and easier to switch people. They are just sick of all the headaches with windows and want to feel good about their computers again. Also the Mac Mini, the G5 iMac and the generally competitive pricing has helped a lot. People are under the impression Macs cost a TON more. The best time to catch them is after they have started looking around at computers because they think it is about time to get a new unit. They will have started pricing out PCs and when you show them what they can get for pretty much the same price in a Mac they are really surprised. I always start out by saying “If you are planning to get a new computer, you owe it to yourself to at least consider the Mac. There are a lot of inherent advantages and pricing has become very comparable.”
About 18 months ago I would have only seen one or two iPods in Auckland City CBD during the day, now I am seeing iPods, iPod minis, iPod Shuffles on my way to work and when I head home at night as well as iPod shuffle ads on buses, iPod Billboard ads, iPod competitions for Kit Kat chocolate bars, Apple’s own “spend $300 dollars on an Apple product and win an iPod Shuffle!”
Apple iPod passes 20 million units sold…. On a related matter, Creative announced that they have passed 20 units sold today……
Apple plans special event next month, new iPods likely
Apple Computer is distributing media alerts and invitations to a special event that will take place on or before Thursday, July 7th, but the company is not yet offering details.
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1148
bring on iPod G5 and Shuffle G2!!