During Apple’s recent Q308 financial results conference call, “Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer told analysts that a ‘future product transition’ will lower gross margins from nearly 35 percent during the quarter that ended in June to about 30 percent in 2009,” John Boudreau reports for The Mercury News.
“As usual, Oppenheimer was cryptic, saying only ‘we’re delivering state-of-the-art products at price points that our competitors can’t match,'” Boudreau reports. “He added that one of the investments is ‘to introduce new products that initially cost more because they deliver an entirely new level of value to the customer… We have some of these types of investments in front of us that I can’t discuss.'”
Boudreau reports, “Analysts say the mystery could be a refresh of Macintosh laptops, a new architecture for its PC line, a new mini-laptop or a completely new product… Jennifer Colegrove, an analyst with iSuppli, is convinced Apple is cooking up a new touch-screen mini-laptop. Sales of touch-screen technology, popular with handheld devices such as the iPhone and iPod touch, are expected to double between now and 2013, becoming a $6.4 billion industry, she said in a new report.”
Boudreau reports, “Colegrove believes Apple might unveil a 7- to 10-inch laptop, joining the many other PC companies that are offering relatively low-cost and lightweight laptops. ‘If you look at Apple’s products – the iPhone, the iPod touch – what’s next?” she said. “It’s natural that you’ll see (touch technology) with notebook computers.'”
Full article, with more analysts’ speculation, here.