“When Apple Computer Inc. reports fiscal third-quarter results after the market closes Wednesday, investors will be paying close attention to what the company does – or doesn’t — say about the next version of its wildly-popular iPod digital media player,” Rex Crum reports for MarketWatch.
“Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call expect that Apple will earn 44 cents a share, up 19% from a year earlier, and post sales of $4.4 billion in revenue, a 25% rise,” Crum reports. “Still, Apple shares have fallen more than 25% this year on concerns about whether the company will be able to maintain the profit growth – driven by surging iPod demand – that helped spark huge stock gains during 2004 and 2005.”
“While Apple is unlikely to give details of the product today in advance of Jobs’ keynote presentation at the conference next month, what company executives say about iPod demand, both for the just-ended quarter and the remainder of 2006, may impact the stock,” Crum reports. “Analysts and investors are looking for any signs about the strength of second-half demand because the back-to-school season and the holiday shopping season are key periods for iPod sales.”
“Apple investors will also want to hear about the level of demand for Macintosh personal computers. Apple in April released Boot Camp, a free software download that enables its new computers powered by Intel Corp. microprocessors to run Microsoft Corp.’s Windows XP operating system,” Crum reports. “The overwhelming majority of the world’s PCs use Windows, and some analysts have speculated that the move could help raise Apple’s single-digit share of the global PC market.”
Full article here.
Related articles:
Wall Street focused on Macs over iPods as Apple releases third quarter results today – July 19, 2006
Apple FY 06 Third Quarter Results Conference Call this Wednesday – July 18, 2006
So basically, this article says that all eyes are on Apple to hear about iPod and Mac sales…
Do you really think so?
Please Steve! Do something
endlesselevation.com
If analysts are expecting any announcements about future iPods at the WWDC, they are going to be dissappointed. WWDC is going to be about Leopard, and any hardware announcements will be related to Apple’s Mac-division.
Since the iPods introduction in 2001, there has never been a new iPod introduced at WWDC.
25% increase over last year. I can see why the stock has tanked in the last 6 months…NOT. The stock market is nuts.
Typical of most market watchers, they are fixated on the iPod, ignoring that the name of the compnay is Apple COMPUTER.
As the digital music player market matures rowth will naturally slow. This isn’t about to happen for at least a year. On the other hand, the computer industry depends entirely on industry growth, all except Apple, which is taking share away from Gateway, Dell, Lenovo, Sony, Toshiba et al.
Mac computer growth is not dependent on industry growth. It is more reliant on Microsoft continuing to produce crap, and there is nothing on the horizon to suggest that is going to stop any time soon.
25% increase over last year. I can see why the stock has tanked in the last 6 months…NOT. The stock market is nuts.
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Even at AAPL current price, the 25% year over year revenue increase is already built in to the stock price. Investors are looking for above and beyond what they expect. It’s not just Apple, it’s any company. The reason AAPL had a 2 year run is because iPod growth rate was between 200%-600%.
The most about the iPod we’ll see is maybe an update on how sales are going with the iPod and iTunes. Then they will turn to the Mac and 10.5. There will probably be Mac Pro and then maybe a new accesory or updates to a few already released items. As far as this evening, there will be a surprise in Mac sales, a disapointment in iPod sales. This will cose an initial drop in stock price until investors realize that iPod’s aren’t the only thing that Apple sells (like the majority of the public, in my opinion) and then the stock will finish tomorrow up a few percentage points. I’m guessing it’ll be up to $55 per share by friday’s close.
Wow, so maybe it’ll be up to $57. I just checked the price and it is $54.60. It made a jump while I was at lunch and I just now noticed.
“Some analysts have speculated that the move could help raise Apple’s single-digit share of the global PC market….to…..?”
Let the speculation begin…..
“Since the iPods introduction in 2001, there has never been a new iPod introduced at WWDC.”
Great quote here are some more.
Apple will never move to intel processors.
Apple will never port iTunes to Windows.
Apple will never allow Windows to run on theri computers.
BLAH BLAH BLAH!!!
The only people who know what Apple is planning are the employees at Apple.
Eddie, my statement is not a quote, it’s a fact. The iPod platform is a closed system and has nothing to do with the developers, so it makes since that Jobs’ will not be showcasing a new iPod at the developer conference.
If however, Apple decides to open up the iPods closed propietary system, then IT WOULD make since to introduce an iPod at the developer conference. Unless or until that happens, it is only logical that the developers conference will remain Mac related.
Correction: “since” should be “sense.”
The number of Mac units sold should be big. Just check out Amazon.com’s top 10 computers: 7 out of 10 (!!) are Macs! The Mac Mini didn’t quite make the cut but its in the top 10 for desktops. Looks like you Americans like your laptops.
Just check out Amazon.com’s top 10 computers: 7 out of 10 (!!) are Macs!
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Biscuit, Macs have dominated Amazons top 10 list for the past two years, even before the Intel switch and it hasn’t meant much as far as an increase in sales. Amazon is not a big seller of computers, and more importantly Dell computers are not sold on Amazon.
So although it’s nice to see Macs in Amazons top 10 list, the list is basically pretty meaningless..
WWDC: iPod or not? Probably not (but who knows).
Regardless, if new iPods are imminent, their coming out party has to be sometime soon. In order to build momentum for holiday sales, Apple needs a couple months to announce, build inventory, etc.
My guess is that new iPods come as a September back-to-school special event.
My guess is that new iPods come as a September back-to-school special event.
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Agreed, this is only July and we’ve got 5 months before the holidays. If a new iPod was introduced now, it would be old news by Christmas. Heck, the current iPods are only 9 (iPod) and 10 (nano) months old now!