April 29, 2005
PortalPlayer Shows Positive iPod Sales
Piper Jaffray is out tooting the iPod horn after PortalPlayer reported earnings and good future guidance. PortalPlayer makes the Mp3 semiconductor chips used in every hard-drive equipped Apple iPod, which includes the iPod Mini, iPod, and iPod Photo. Basically every model execpt for the Shuffle.According to the analyst, retailers are doing a good job upselling prospective Shuffle buyers to at least the iPod Mini. For just $50 more you can 4x the storage space is the value proposition. I actually prefer the durability and the form factor of the Shuffle myself, but to each his own.
“We believe that PortalPlayer’s Q2 guidance is positive for Apple’s HD based iPods and may be consistent with a trend that we have been picking up on in the channel related to iPod shuffle to 4GB iPod mini up-selling,” Munster said in a research note obtained by iPodlounge. “Specifically, we have been hearing from Apple retail stores and independent Apple VARs that customers are consistently being up-sold to 4GB iPod minis ($200) when intending to buy the 1GB iPod shuffle ($149), given the minimal ($50) difference in price."
