View this article at: http://www.macnn.com/articles/04/11/24/ipod.sales.could.hit.23.5m/ Wednesday, Nov 24, 2004 11:10am Analyst predicts nearly 24M iPod unit sales in 2006 One Wall Street analyst expects 100 million Windows users to own iPods by 2008 and is forecasting iPod sales of 23.5 million units in 2006, according to a report obtained by Macworld UK. The analyst says that the rumored flash-based iPod, expected early next year, may "an opportunistic move to quickly capture an even higher share of the portable music player market," noting that Apple has already established the iPod as the "leading brand" in the portable music player market. In a 27-page research note issued to clients, Needham & Co. analyst Charles Wolf claims the iPod will achieve 'critical mass' that could lead to a surge in Mac sales if only a nominal fraction of iPod users make a Mac purchase and also calls Apple's online and brick-&-mortar retail stores as "the unsung heroes of the Apple story." He further predicts that by 2010, iTunes Music Store market share will have fallen to just 2 per cent, but equates this figure to sales worth $800 million per year by then.