14 DAY TRIAL // On July 21, 2008 Apple's CFO Peter Oppenheimer stated, “We will be delivering state-of-the-art new products that I cannot discuss today that our competitors will not be able to match." It is believed that Apple had foreseen a potential drop in Mac sales, and implicitly its stock, thus the company might be planning to introduce a low-cost line of Macs.
Whether or not we should be expecting a “brick” or a “tablet”, Apple has promised to innovate in ways their competitors would not be able to, with the technology at hand. Apple also asserts it is years ahead of its competitors, as far as leveraged technologies are concerned. Therefore, some suggest Apple's biggest stock drop in over 8 years is a good time to buy. Well, not if Apple doesn't deliver Macs under the $1,000 entry level.
Morgan Stanley researcher Kathryn Huberty cut her rating on Apple's stock to Equal Weight from Overweight. Her target estimates also lowered to $5.47 from $5.91 for fiscal 2009, and to $6.92 from $8.07 for fiscal 2010, dropping to $115 per share from $178. According to Morgan Stanley's analyst, “PC unit growth is decelerating and the remaining source of growth is increasingly the sub-$1,000 market where AAPL does not play.” The analyst added that, “even in the best of scenarios, AAPL’s EPS growth will decelerate meaningfully from June quarter levels.”
Yves Behar's redesign of the XO laptop, also known as the “$100 laptop,” targeting education facilities, could be what Apple's Oppenheimer was referring to. Of course, since Apple doesn't do business in the low margin / low-end market, it's highly unlikely for the company to release its own $100 or even $300 Mac tablet (or whatever is in the scope). If anything, the price would almost surely be over the $500 entry level, and even that's a stretch. How high do you think Apple's next line of portables will be priced?