Talk about the coming iPhone and Apple TV machine dominated the discourse with the primary financial officer of Apple at an investing conference in San Francisco Tuesday .
Peter Oppenheimer , appearing at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference , declined to give specific building block sale forecast for the new products but foretell they will be strong . Oppenheimer ’s session can be heard viawebcast at Apple ’s Web site .
“ Apple TV will change the elbow room hoi polloi gather and purchase their digital substance , ” said Oppenheimer of the $ 299 Apple TV , due out later on this calendar month after missing its schedule February release date . It is a localize - top loge that delivers digital content stored on a computing machine , include video recording purchase from Apple ’s iTunes Store , to a TV .
However , the usefulness of the Apple TV may be splice to the amount of video content usable on iTunes . Today , Oppenheimer allege , 400 motion picture and 350 boob tube programs are available for downloads . Those numbers are up significantly from when Apple add movie and TV - show downloads to iTunes — Apple set off out with 75 moviesin September 2006 and five TV course of study whenit added that Robert William Service in October 2005 . Apple continues to add content to iTunes , Oppenheimer noted — the company recently arrive at agreements with film distributorsParamount PicturesandLionsgate Entertainmentto sell downloads of their motion-picture show on iTunes .
The much - anticipated Apple iPhone is scheduled to hit the market in June . The iPhone , which Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced at Macworld in January , features an innovative touch - screen interface on a compounding phone , iPod , and tocopherol - chain mail and Internet access code equipment . It will sell for $ 499 or $ 599 depending on depot capability , and will require a two - class contract bridge with Cingular Wireless , the mobile division of AT&T.
Oppenheimer declined to comment specifically on a March 1 report from Morgan Stanley analyst Kathryn Huberty , who interviewed him at the league , in which she raised her forecast for 2007 iPhone sale to 8 million from an former prognosis of 6 million , base on a sketch of 2,500 U.S. customers . ( Apple has pose a finish of sell 10 million phones , or 1 percent of the numeral of mobile phones sold around the world last year , by 2008 . )
“ Half the need is derive from the traditional high - end French telephone marketplace and half from Apple ’s customer base , ” Huberty tell .
While not commenting on the forecast , Oppenheimer said the iPhone will be a “ breakthrough product . ”
“ Though Apple is new to the fluid phone market , we think the addressable market will grow quickly , ” he said .
necessitate about what barriers digest in the agency of the iPhone ’s adoption , Oppenheimer predicted that the Apple equipment will redefine the cell phone market place . “ As an innovator , we do n’t look at traditional marketplace methodology to imagine about how to develop products , ” say Oppenheimer , citing the iPod ’s success . When Apple introduced that production in 2001 , the Apple CFO say , “ we did n’t really ask ourselves what was the potential of the MP3 market place by looking at products that were over $ 399 . We believed that people really love music and that they would appreciate a product like the iPod . ”
Oppenheimer also have-to doe with to the iPod when quiz by Huberty on how the iPhone line might evolve , specially when it comes to accessories . While declining to comment on specific products , Oppenheimer noted what Apple has done with both its iPod and Mac production lines ; the former boast more than 3,000 accessory while there are more than 23,000 Mac hardware and software products from developer .
In its last quarterly earnings report on Jan. 17 , Apple posted net income of $ 1 billion , or $ 1.14 per share , on taxation of $ 7.1 billion for the three months ended Dec. 30 , 2006 .
Analysts forecast Apple to clear 62 cents per share on receipts of $ 5.16 billion in the current quarter , accord to a consensus estimation grow by Thomson Financial .
In a 40 - minute conversation with Huberty , include question from other analysts in the audience , Oppenheimer did not discuss the stock options probe at Apple . The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney ’s Office in San Francisco are investigate whether Apple improperly accounted for and disclosed the backdating of options . No charges have been lodge .
Macworld.com ’s Philip Michaels contributed to this composition .
