07/22/2008, 10:20am, EDT
Tuesday, July 22nd
Piper: New iPods, cheaper MacBooks enroute?
Analysts at Piper Jaffray share worries in common with rivals like Needham following Apple's Q3 results, according to a new report. Piper notes that while Apple produced $7.46 billion in revenue during the quarter with an EPS of $1.19, partly due to a 42 percent year-over-year growth in Mac sales, the predicted slide in gross margins from Q3's 34.8 percent to "about 30 percent" in FY09 may not bode well for stockholders. Piper had been estimating a 32.3 percent margin for FY09.
Piper cautions people, however, that things are not quite bleak. Apple is said to typically guide gross margin to about 270 basis points below where it will actually fall, and the company is believed to be absorbing the extra expense in order to fund new efforts. There is said to be "an 80 percent chance," for instance, that in future redesigns, Apple is planning to drop the base price of the MacBook to $999, and the MacBook Pro to $1,799.
Apple is also expected to release new iPods and/or other portables in the September quarter, likely including new, cheaper touchscreen iPods. In general however, Apple is expected to stick to a policy of "premium" pricing.
Filed under: iPod, Investor, Apple
Other story tags: MacBook, MacBook Pro
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I just want
to see new desktops, dammit!
I wouldn't be surprised
to see some all-new products. The mini might be upgraded to act as a media server. There's a lot of interest in RAID-based NAS-style home or SOHO servers now, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Apple market one. Then there's always the mid-size pro machine option. I see something along these lines as opposed to just redesigns of current products.
duh!
The iPod price drops are a no brainer.
Why buy a Touch right now - unless you are looking for max storage in the 32GB edition? When you can buy either size of the iPhone and get bluetooth - phone - GPS and more built in for less cost.
It seems like the price drop on the iPhone would damage sales of the Touch's current price structure.
And as far as the laptops go - this is nothing new. Those prices points have fluctuated like that in the past - will probably do it agian in the future - but Apple has still maintained roughly that price point on the laptops from the beginning. People have to remmeber that they are buying the Apple brand and not just any laptop.
Low price = market share
It sounds like Apple sees an opportunity to increase market share by lowering prices at a strategic time. This could lower margins, but earn a lot of customers, who will stay around to buy higher-margin products over time.
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Analysts predict the predictable..
Thats news?
Re: duh!
Why buy a Touch right now - unless you are looking for max storage in the 32GB edition? When you can buy either size of the iPhone and get bluetooth - phone - GPS and more built in for less cost.
Except you don't have to fork over $70 a month for an iPod touch. Maybe if the data plan wasn't required, but as it sits now, you're talking two different price points completely.
Oh, and bluetooth is pretty useless for those wanting the iPod portion, since it isn't set up for bluetooth headphones.
bleh
how 'bout that over-priced mac mini...still sporting that GMA 950 graphics card and NO decent headless mid-priced alternative... unless you want to look into OSX86
WTF???