“Apple Inc. appears headed for yet another rosy fiscal fourth quarter, with sales of both Macs and its new iPhone handset tracking ahead of expectations, an American Technology Research analyst said Wednesday,” Katie Marsal reports for AppleInsider.
“Advising clients in a research note, analyst Shaw Wu cited sources who indicate that the Cupertino-based firm’s Mac business continues to see strength driven by back-to-school buying and share gains from Windows PC switchers,” Marsal reports. “In particular, Wu said, demand for the company’s high-end MacBook Pros and new aluminum iMacs are robust.”
“Meanwhile, there is no evidence that consumers are pausing their Mac sales in anticipation of receiving bundles copies of Mac OS X Leopard in the October timeframe, he said,” Marsal reports.
Wu also says that iPhone sales “remain so strong that Apple will likely exceed its own guidance for unit sales of the device,” Marsal reports. For the quarter, Wu forecasts iPhone sales of 770,000 units and describes his estimate of 1.95 million Mac unit sales as “conservative.”
More in the full article here.
Roll on, Apple.
I’m glad I was able to buy more AAPL on the dip.
A lot of new customers may not know that Leopard is coming since it’s not exactly being widely advertised yet. Existing customers may not care since they may buy a family pack anyway for their other machines. Or it will be that OS X doesn’t cost a fortune and come in a dozen sour tasting flavous so people don’t mind actually paying for it since they think it’s worth the money.
MX – agreed. Macheads like us may be avidly following every tidbit of Leopards development, but the average mac users probably doesn’t even know it exists. There are probably a lot of older macs running the same OS that would originally on the machine. The reason Apple can touts high percentage of Tiger using Mac owners is that they have sold a lot of machines in the last two years to new and old customers.
Selling 2M macs this quarter will be stellar. It was only a few years ago that Apple started selling 1M / Q again.
When the heck are the Xserves gonna get updated? They’ll add a nice quarterly boost whenever that happens…
Careful, some analysts are paid under the table to build up Apple’s expectations, so they will bomb later. It really is the only strategy out there for the M$ cronies, as Apple’s ducks are all in a row. RIM, Verizon, Dell, M$, and the list goes on of people who would love to see Apple take a hit.
The “Analysts” are at it again. Expect Apple stock to increase in value as these guys beat the drums. Remember, speculators make money when stocks consistently go both ways.
Edgy.. I wish I was so lucky to be able to buy more. Had to sell some stock on the downward slid two weeks ago to get the adoption process going. It is for somenting good
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In general, I don’t think most Mac buyers even think about holding off for 10.5. In contrast to VISTA Ultimate ($499 Canadian), the price of 10.5 will be around $150 (CDN) and, while illegal according to the EULA, the one copy of 10.5 “could” be installed on multiple Macs since there is no unique Product Key ala Microsoft.
I’ve bought a new MacBook, new 24″ iMac, and new MacMini for my job site in the last month (and yes I could have waited, but why?)
Magic Word “cost”: Vista Ultimate $499 vs Mac 10.5 $150.
Duster_340, I can’t think of too many better reasons to sell some stock – good luck with the process!
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There’s no reason to wait for Leopard because Tiger is so good.
Edgy: Nice move. I to have been buying as AAPL slid. Last grab at $112 was sweet. Anyone who knows Apple well knows that it is headed up and will surely hit the brokers forcast of $160+ by the end of the year. Todays price of $131+ will look cheap.
“MDN Magic Word” = today
I really want a new 24″ iMac, but I am waiting for Leopard. Why not? It will save me $129 or so and the trouble of upgrading. If Apple were to bundle an upgrade with the iMac, then I would likely order now. It makes sense to me.