Economy to hurt Mac sales

The severe economic situation may finally affect Apple as it heads into 2009, says Shaw Wu of American Technology Research. The analyst comments that while the number of Macs sold during the September quarter should prove to be healthy, thanks to the school season and Apple's free iPod deal, "low visibility" is predicted during the upcoming December and March quarters, which may affect Apple's manufacturing plans. This might not be as much of an issue, Wu suggests, if global and domestic economies were not in poor shape.

It is thought for instance that distributors and OEMs may be looking to keep inventory short, and supply chain checks indicate that such companies are moving towards low- and mid-range Macs; this may be due to rich customers "feeling the effects" of tight credit, Wu says. In this regard, the MacBook Air is believed to be the product most heavily affected.

AmTech is now adopting a conservative stance in its predictions, shifting to $32.8 billion in revenue and $5.29 EPS for FY08, and a $6.15 EPS off $38.8 billion in revenue for FY09. These figures are still superior to consensus estimates, however.

by MacNN Staff