Noting that "the Street is somewhat disappointed that todayis WWDC announcements are in line with expectations," Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said in a research note that "the best approach to looking at Appleis product roadmap is to focus on a 6-9 month timeframe." He added: "While many rumored products were not announced at WWDC, we believe most of the products, including new iPod nano, video iPod, iTunes film downloads, and iPhone will be announced within 6-9 months."
Addressing each of Appleis announcements, Mr. Munster pointed out that "Apple continued inching up its Mac pricing following the Intel upgrade, with the new Mac Pro which is priced at US$2499 ... Our take is Appleis goal is to gain market share at a measured pace while at the same time increasing profitability."
The analyst added: "Even with the price increases, we believe Apple will gain more market share than the Street is modeling. We estimate that the Street is modeling for Apple to gain 0.2% market share in 2007. More than 0.2% share gain should provide upside to Street numbers. We believe Apple will gain more than 0.2% share in 2007."
He didnit offer any commentary on the new Intel-based Xserve, but the analyst did address the new features that will be found in Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard." He saw Time Machine, Spaces, and Boot Camp as "the three key enhancements" but, obviously, expects "no near-term impact on business," since the new OS wonit ship until next spring.
Mr. Munster kept his "Outperform" rating on Appleis stock, with a $99 price target. At the close of the trading day on Monday, the companyis shares were selling for $67.21, down $1.09, or 1.6%, for the day. A Reuters article said that investors were disappointed by the lack of a new iPod or other "new consumer gadget" and quoted Mr. Munster as saying: "To get a rise (in stock price) you have to surprise investors."