I put in for 53 cents as well, but it's because I think Macs are selling really well. I don't think Apple's margins are going to be better than last quarter as the new iPods in Sept have lower margins than the last generation iPods had in July-August. Apple's margins on the last generation iPods had grown huge since Apple had no price reductions while the components were getting cheaper. But the new iPods now have more storage, newer battery tech, and lower prices for some, which eats into those huge margins. But the new iPod margins are probably higher than when the last generation iPods were introduced.
I think we're on the same page with the margins analysis above. But in my view, the key is that these products (particularly the new nano) were introduced with higher price-to-cost ratios than the previous versions were. I also believe that analysts have underestimated the margin contribution of the retail stores.
Thanks for taking the time to comment. It'll be fun to see what the actual results are.
Carl
Still would love to see an iPhone-- just because I don't like any existing cell phones; it's a fertile area to pursue; wide open.
With the emergence of user-generated video (YouTube, etc), Apple is in the cat-bird's seat.
Though I anticipate little effect on this quarter's earnings, it should be noted that iMovie is just about the only casual hobbyist-level, good quality nonlinear editting software editting package out there; thus, the YouTube phenomenon should serve to fruther increase Apple's marketshare. The AAPL-Google connection could synergize this effect.
Hey Carl, guess you were right and I was wrong on the margins - it increased from 28 to 29. Don't know how much was due to Macs vs. iPods.
And it looks like your poll responders had great insight (minus me and you) - 0.62 eps!!!
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