View this article at: http://www.macnn.com/articles/05/05/12/yahoo.impact/ Thursday, May 12, 2005 4:45pm Yahoo! to have "modest near-term impact" on Apple Banc of America Securities today said the launch of a new paid music download service from Yahoo! will "have very modest near-term impact" on Apple's iTunes and iPod sales, contrary to reports from J.P. Morgan and PiperJaffray. Banc of America slightly lowered the target price on Apple (to $44 from $47.50) "to acknowledge the risk of increased competition in the MP3 market, with a focus on 2006." The tight integration between iTunes and Apple's hardware has had a "protective effect," according to the report, with a strong connection between iPod and iTunes sales. If the subscription model proves to be popular, the firm said it expects Apple to counter and match with a subscription model of its own, echoing comments made by PiperJaffray.