Zune 2 to make a visit?
switched.com
It will be interesting to see what, if anything, MSFT actually comes up with. I think that the last Zune benefitted from being something "not Apple" last year. When you look at the messages posted in response to certain stories, there are those that are just anti Apple and will buy something just because of that. Sort of that anti Apple fan boy stuff. Maybe we should just call them AAFBs(anti apple fan boys).
I am not sure if this is just the timing of things or if MSFT is trying to respond to what Apple has produced. It will be interesting to see if there is a new model, what kind of new features that the Zune will have. It would appear that the iPod Touch has leapfrogged the old Zune by an order of magnitude. Competition will be good, especially for the consumer if MSFT can actually come up with something good. But whoever came up with the name squircle should be looking for a new job in my opinion.
On the Apple stock side of things, I would think that Apple could maybe sell 250,000 to 500,000 of the iPhones in Europe in their present configuration for the holiday season. In my mind, anything over 500,000 would be great given the question about the 3g capabilities and its importance to selling the device. It would be nice if the touches could sell at least that well in Europe but I don't get a real good feel for numbers here. In the states, I think that Apple could sell about 1.5 to 2 million of the iPhones in the December quarter. So I think that Apple could sell about 3 million plus phones for this calender year. That will be a nice number in my book and if the stories about revenue sharing are true, should add nicely to Apple's quarterly numbers.
The thing that I think might be the bigger deal for Apple is all the people coming into stores to look at an iPod or an iPhone. You would have to think that with the issues that Vista had and may still have(depending on who you listen to) and if Apple could just come up with a reasonable upgrade in Leopard(although it would be better if they hit it out of the park), that many that come in to look at an iPod and iPhone might just take a look and walk out with a computer as well. If DG broke down and bought one and found it not awful, then maybe it is time for Apple to signifcantly get improved market share.
Neal |
