Apple Mac, iPod sales see slight rebound in December
Mac sales appear to have risen 4 percent year-over-year during the month of December, a noticeable improvement over November figures that saw sales growth dip briefly into negative figures, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, referencing data released by market research firm NPD this week.
According to Munster, that means that Apple sold anywhere from 2.45 million to 2.55 million Macs during the December quarter, which would represent yearly unit growth anywhere from 6 to 10 percent. Wall Street estimates put the growth at 8 percent.
The data from NPD indicates that Mac prices remained relatively flat quarter to quarter, and did not rise 12 percent as some analysts expected following the introduction of premium-priced MacBooks, MacBook Pros, and MacBook Airs in October.
According to the article, Munster believes Apple will announce December quarter iPod sales of approximately 19 million to 20 million unit, just ahead of Wall Street's expectations of 18.6 million units.
"This range implies year-over-year iPod unit growth of -14 percent to -10 percent versus the Street at -16 percent year-over-year," he wrote, according to the article. "Given concerns regarding iPod weakness, we believe the segment's outperformance relative to Street expectations is a positive."
On the other hand, the NPD data suggests iPod average selling prices continued on their year-long decline during the December quarter, falling 12 percent.
Most consumer demand for iPods around the holidays was credited to Apple's iPod touch, the top-of-the-line iPod model.