Monday Apple Rumors: Expect MacBook Air Sales to Soar

by Anthony John Agnello | December 12, 2011 12:39 pm

daily apple rumors AAPL[1]Here are your Apple rumors and AAPL news items[2] for Monday:

MacBook Air Quarterly Sales Set to Hit 1.6 Million: JPMorgan analyst Mark Moskowitz said in a note to investors that he expects Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL[3]) to sell an average of 1.6 million MacBook Air laptops per quarter following the end of 2011. Those MacBook Air sales will translate to approximately $7 billion in quarterly revenue for the company. Driving future growth is China, where MacBook Air sales grew 339% year-over-year during the third quarter of 2011. According to an Apple Insider report[4] detailing Moskowitz’s note, the analyst doesn’t think Intel‘s (NASDAQ:INTC[5]) Ultrabook PCs — lightweight laptops intended to compete with Apple’s devices — will impact Apple’s growing sales.

100 Million Downloads for Mac App Store: The success of the MacBook Air laptop line is somewhat reflected in the success of Apple’s digital storefront for apps on that device. Opened in January, the Mac App Store hit 100 million downloads on Monday morning, according to a press release from Apple. Apple made waves earlier this year when it released the latest version of its desktop and laptop operating system — OS X 10.7, or Lion — exclusively via the Mac App Store rather than as a disc purchased at retail.

iPad 3 Due In March — or April? Another day, another iPad 3 rumor. Citi analyst Richard Gardner said in a Thursday note to investors that he believed Apple could deliver its latest tablet as early as February[6]. However, a Sunday report in Taiwan’s DigiTimes (via Mac Rumors) said Gardner is jumping the gun. Production of the iPad 2 device isn’t expected to wind down until the beginning of 2012. Volume production of the iPad 3 will then kick off in February, with Apple producing around 9.5 million tablets for a March or April release[7]. Gardner believed Apple might bump up the release of the next model to align it with the late Steve Jobs’ birthday on Feb. 24.

As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned stocks. Follow him on Twitter at @ajohnagnello[8] and become a fan of InvestorPlace on Facebook[9]. For more from the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors[10] stories.

Endnotes:

  1. [Image]: https://investorplace.com/hot-topics/apple-rumors-stock-news/
  2. Apple rumors and AAPL news items: https://investorplace.com/hot-topics/apple-rumors-stock-news/
  3. AAPL: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=AAPL
  4. report: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/12/12/apples_macbook_air_projected_to_reach_sales_of_1_6m_per_quarter.html
  5. INTC: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=INTC
  6. Apple could deliver its latest tablet as early as February: https://investorplace.com/2011/12/apple-rumors-ipad-3-february-iphone-5/
  7. Apple producing around 9.5 million tablets for a March or April release: http://www.macrumors.com/2011/12/12/ipad-3-expected-to-launch-in-around-march-april/
  8. @ajohnagnello: http://twitter.com/#%21/ajohnagnello
  9. InvestorPlace on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/InvestorPlace/178906405484848
  10. Apple Rumors: https://investorplace.com/hot-topics/apple-rumors-stock-news/

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2011/12/apple-rumors-macbook-air-mac-app-store-ipad-3/