Tuesday's updates to the iPod shuffle may have been important to keeping up iPod sales, say analysts with the research firm Piper Jaffray. Even with no change in Shuffle unit estimates, utilizing the new iPod ASPs, segment revs should increase 12 percent year-over-year for the March quarter; Piper says it expects growth of up to 15 percent year-over-year, with a Shuffle ASP of $67 and a general iPod ASP of $172. This translates into iPod segment revenue of $1.94 billion.

Things could improve still further, since a decrease in the Shuffle's price (to as low as $49) may encourage extra sales. As a result, Piper says it is more confident in its estimated iPod units for the March quarter, currently figured at 11.3 million.

The firm also remarks that the new cut is the fourth change to Shuffle pricing since it debuted three years ago, not including a $10 increase when the second-generation player was premiered in September of 2006. Tuesday's changes in fact marked the end of the longest continuous price levels for the Shuffle, stretching over 500 days.