iPad cannibalizing iPod sales, not Mac reckons analyst

Early analysis of Apple sales figures suggests that, rather than eat into sales of the company's Mac range, the iPad has cannibalized iPod sales.  According to Gene Munster, outspoken analyst at Piper Jaffray, Apple's domestic Mac sales were up 39-percent year on year, while iPod sales dropped an estimate-quashing 17-percent for the three month period.  Munster reckons this is down to clever positioning and feature-selection on Apple's part, commenting that "Apple has successfully limited the iPad functionality to primarily content consumption, versus content creation on a Mac"

While iPod sales have been gradually decreasing through Apple's past few financial quarters, predictions for this most recent period only guesstimated the drop at 9-percent year on year.  Instead, Munster's own research suggests it may be almost twice that, with Apple only shifting 9m to 10m units.  However, that's overall a good change, he reckons, since "given the [average selling price] (4x) and margin profile of the iPad, we see this as a net positive for Apple's business."

"Relative to the iPod, the physical size of an iPad provides a meaningfully different value proposition (portability vs. screen size)" he continues, suggesting that users may be looking for an improved internet experience as multimedia playback becomes pretty much standardised across the segment.  Apple has just refreshed the entry-level MacBook, and recently updated their 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pro models with Intel's Core i5 and Core i7 processors.

[via Ars Technica]