Peter Oppenheimer at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference in San Francisco

Mar 8, 2007 12:09 GMT  ·  By

The Morgan Stanley Technology Conference was held this Tuesday in San Francisco and, among others, Apple's chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer took the floor and answered questions regarding the upcoming Apple TV and iPhone, Leopard and their chain of retail stores. The session took about 40 minutes.

"We believe we are providing a new and better way for people to seamlessly and wireless enjoy their digital lifestyles. The Apple TV interface is simple, yet elegant, and the picture quality is excellent.", said the CFO about their Apple TV. He also said iTunes has seen a considerable growth, with more and more additions from both studios and independent sources, and sees the Apple TV - iTunes duo as a hit couple.

In regard to their upcoming cell phone, the CFO said: "We don't think there is another product like the iPhone and we think the iPhone will redefine the cell phone market." He sees Apple's current customer base as iPhone potential buyers and compares iPhone to their groundbreaking iPod. He predicts the same commercial success for the new gadget.

Oppenheimer gave no additional information on the Leopard launch date, but confirmed the spring time-span. He sees Vista as no threat to their upcoming OS X 10.5 and feels confident in Leopard's superiority. When asked about Mac OS X virtualization on PCs, the CFO said they have no intentions of such kind.

About their chain of retail stores, Oppenheimer confirmed they are expanding, and said they plan to add up to 40 new stores to their 175 existing locations, ten of which outside of the United States. "I'm very, very happy with the financial performance of the retail stores", said the CFO.

"We're keeping the payroll up, and we're remodeling some of the first stores we opened to take advantage of some of the new innovations we have in our more current stores". The stores are also being prepared for this year's new-comers, Apple TV, iPhone and Leopard.

Like Oppenheimer, Apple COO Tim Cook also took the stand at the Goldman Sachs Technology Investment Symposium, at the end of February, but he only spoke about the iPhone and its future.