“Checks with retailers in the north east indicate there is strong demand for Apple Computer’s Intel Mac line leading into the holiday shopping season, with sales of the its iPod digital music players also gaining traction, analysts for UBS Investment Research said Tuesday. Meanwhile, the firm’s inquiries turned up “little excitement” over Microsoft’s Zune digital music player, which makes its market debut today,” Prince McLean reports for AppleInsider.
McLean reports, “The checks were part UBS’s monthly ‘Retail Rumblings’ report, where analysts visit several retail stores in New York and New Jersey to focus on printer, PC/Mac and iPod activity, including on-site discussions with store managers, monthly price and inventory tracking and shelf space observations. The firm also checks company and retail websites, and conducts telephone interviews nationwide to supplement those findings.”
“‘Our checks for Apple continue to be positive for MacBooks, which could lend upside potential to our estimates for fiscal 1Q07 (ends December) and bodes well for continued share gains,’ analyst Ben Reitzes wrote in his report to clients, first distributed on Monday. ‘While Apple continues to dominate the MP3 player market in terms of share, our checks indicate that the MP3 market is a bit more subdued than last year due to general market maturation,'” McLean reports.
McLean reports, “Still, Reitzes said he noticed some improvement in iPod nano demand as a result of the remastered aluminum models. He said initial sales of the company’s second-generation iPod shuffle also appear to be solid. ‘While Microsoft’s Zune will hit stores tomorrow, our checks show little excitement around the new product and we are not expecting much of an impact to iPod sales from the new MP3 player,’ the analyst wrote. ‘In fact, initial reviews for the Zune have been far from impressive.'”
Full article with much more, including talk of “ultraportable Apple notebooks,” Mac OS X Leopard, Mac Pros, iMacs, MacBooks, and more, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “LinuxGuy and Mac Prodigal Son” for the heads up.]