“Apple Inc. plans to host a special event next week, feeding speculation that it may release updated models of the iPod media player to spur holiday sales,” Connie Guglielmo reports for Bloomberg.
“An invitation for the Sept. 9 event in San Francisco, sent today, is entitled ‘Let’s Rock’ and shows a silhouetted dancer holding an iPod below a ‘playing soon’ banner,” Guglielmo reports.
“Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs has held events each September for the past four years to introduce new iPods, which play music and videos. Lower prices, smaller models and more storage may bolster Apple’s product line in the December quarter, its biggest sales period. Last September, Jobs introduced the iPod Touch [sic], a touch-screen model that surfs the Web,” Guglielmo reports.
“‘It’s critical that they introduce the latest and greatest’ to stimulate holiday orders, said Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray & Co. in Minneapolis. ‘We just thought it was going to be an updated version of the iPod Touch, but they may have something even more interesting to show,'” Guglielmo reports. “Jobs, 53, may offer higher-capacity versions of its slim Nano players and cut the price of the 8-gigabyte iPod Touch to $199 from $299, said Munster, one of 27 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg who recommend buying Apple’s shares.”
“The iPod accounted for 22 percent of revenue last quarter, with Apple’s Macintosh computers and the iPhone making up most of the rest,” Guglielmo reports. “While the invitation suggests that next week’s announcements will be music-related, Apple also is expected to update its MacBook notebooks before the end of the year, Munster said. The Mac computer accounts for almost half of sales.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Chuckles the Microsoft CEO” for the heads up.]
