14 DAY TRIAL // Apple's guidance for this quarter was unusually high, taking everyone by surprise. Despite aiming higher than Wall Street expectations, initial indications are that Apple was once again being realistic and offering guidance that it knows it can meet.
Although the projections seemed unusually high, after analyzing the October sales data from the market research firm NPD, investment bank Piper Jaffray now expects Apple to sell a record 25 million iPods during this quarter. Although it is still early for very accurate estimates, the company's performance so far suggests that it will be able to move 24 to 25 million of the little music players to customers.
Although it may look like a huge amount of iPods, during last year's holiday quarter the company sold 21,066,000 iPods, which is also their current record. If the estimates are correct, Apple stands to beat their own record by quite a wide margin. Although the iPod is a mature product, Apple's way of rendering their own best selling models by coming out with newer, better models has proven to be very good at keeping the iPod fresh and desirable. The recently released iPod touch will undoubtedly pay a big part in achieving those sales numbers. The Internet capabilities of the device are very compelling and add great value to Apple's iconic music player, while still being such a different product from the other iPods to ensure that it cannibalizes as little as possible. Likewise, the availability of the Wi-Fi iTunes store makes this a must have for those who like to be constantly up to date with the latest musical offerings. The improvements to the rest of the iPod line make the devices more desirable for both those looking to upgrade and those looking to make their first iPod purchase.
Obviously Apple knew it was going to make a killing this quarter, but it will be interesting to see exactly how many iPod they manage to sell.