Could rising iPod sales hurt Apples margins?
Reuters’ Duncan Martell says: Apple Computer Inc. has a runaway hit with its market-leading iPod digital music player, but could the device’s success actually hurt the company’s profitability over the longer haul? “It’s an excellent question,” said Shaw Wu, an analyst at American Technology Research, who estimates the gross margin average of all iPod models is about 22 percent, narrower than the margin earned on its higher-end Macintosh computers. “You look at last quarter, their gross margin went down a bit sequentially.”….. As Apple’s business shifts more to consumer electronics items like its iPod — sales of iPods now account for nearly a third of total Apple sales — that means the sales of its more profitable Mac computers make up less of the total. For the full report, visit here. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051021/tc_nm/ipod_apple_dc_1 The Mac Night Owl: Profile of a Real iPod Killer This article is not what you expect. I am not going to take someone’s also-ran MP3 player an
