Josh Ong
Analyst Mark Moskowitz raised his December 2012 price target for Apple from $625 to $715 in a note to investors obtained by AppleInsider on Tuesday. The firm also raised its unit shipment estimates for the company on "better than expected unit sales activity of the iPhone and iPad."
"We are not trying to inflate expectations ahead of the [March quarter] print. Our intent is to communicate the incremental delta in our new and old estimates as identified by our recent research," he said.
J.P. Morgan had previously expected iPhone shipments to reach 28.1 million in the first quarter of 2012 (Apple's fiscal second quarter), but the company now believes that shipments will reach 31.1 million units. iPhone shipments for the year are now forecast at 138.2 million, up from 128.7 million. Moskowitz believes investors are expecting between 29 and 31 million units.
The analyst believes Apple's 2012 iPhone revamp will arrive in the second half of 2012 and include a "thinner body and LTE capability."
As for the iPad, the firm now estimates shipments of 13.8 million in the March quarter, compared to a prior projection of 10.1 million units. 2012 shipments of iPads are believed to rise to 69.6 million, up from a previous forecast of 59.8 million.
Moskowitz also wrote that he expects Apple to "refresh its MacBook portfolio, including the Air, in the next three months." The firm believes the company needs to improve its portables' specifications and features while introducing lower price points in order to stay ahead of price reductions from the "Ultrabook crowd."
"Plus, we think that Apple needs to sustain its competitive edge on the technology front. Otherwise, it is our view that investors could worry that future Apple product refreshes (i.e., iPhone or iPad) could lose customer appeal," he wrote.
Finally, the analyst pointed to enterprise PCs as "long-term catalyst" for Apple. He expects the "eventual introduction" of Microsoft Office to crack open the enterprise market to Apple's tablet. Enterprise PCs represent 40 percent of global PC units, but enterprise tablets stand at an estimated 10 percent of global tablet units. As such, Moskowitz sees plenty of room for growth as companies take to the iPad.
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Malcolm Owen
Amber Neely
Christine McKee
Chip Loder
Marko Zivkovic
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Finally, the analyst pointed to enterprise PCs as "long-term catalyst" for Apple. He expects the "eventual introduction" of Microsoft Office to crack open the enterprise market to Apple's tablet. Enterprise PCs represent 40 percent of global PC units, but enterprise tablets stand at an estimated 10 percent of global tablet units. As such, Moskowitz sees plenty of room for growth as companies take to the iPad.
Sounds like nonsense.
If Office is that important for Apple to crack the enterprise market, why would Microsoft release it on iPad? Better keep it for Windows 8?
Sounds like nonsense.
If Office is that important for Apple to crack the enterprise market, why would Microsoft release it on iPad? Better keep it for Windows 8?
Well there are pro and cons for MSFT, but ultimately the iPad has become a platform they can no longer ignore, as it represents for us an hope for increasing their revenues ...
Sounds like nonsense.
If Office is that important for Apple to crack the enterprise market, why would Microsoft release it on iPad? Better keep it for Windows 8?
MSFT makes a lot of money selling MS Office for the Mac. They could do very well making it for the iPad too. Think about this: MSFT only makes money on the future WIN tablets by selling the OS and Office. They likely make more money selling office then the OS. WinMo8 will likely take off very slow (Office on not), If they make Office for the ARM, which they have said they will do, then why not let it be bought by the +100 million iPads that will be on the market by the time Windows 8 finally ships?
MSFT makes a lot of money selling MS Office for the Mac. They could do very well making it for the iPad too. Think about this: MSFT only makes money on the future WIN tablets by selling the OS and Office. They likely make more money selling office then the OS. WinMo8 will likely take off very slow (Office on not), If they make Office for the ARM, which they have said they will do, then why not let it be bought by the +100 million iPads that will be on the market by the time Windows 8 finally ships?
Surely they can make some money on Office for iPad. But letting iPad cruise the enterprise means much smaller market for the future Windows 8 tablets. Do they really want to make it DOA?
The Enterprise Consulting industry is a shell of it's former self.
They are banking on the Consumer embedded space to revitalize the Enterprise custom apps marketing via the iPad/iPhone as their gateway interface.