Analyst: iPod growth to continue at 30% year-over-year

Despite recent talk of market saturation, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster believes that Apple’s iPod growth will continue at around 30% year-over-year. “Since the iPod was introduced in Oct. 2001 it has been the primary driver of the company’s growth engine,” Munster said in a report today. “We are modeling for the year-over-year growth to stabilize at around 20%, but believe 30% growth is achievable and will provide upside to our estimates… Apple has sold 68 million iPods in the past five years (of which 39 million were sold in the last year), and we believe a significant addressable market remains. Although we consider it an overestimation, if we use the mobile phone market as a proxy for the iPod’s addressable market, then the iPod’s market penetration is about 27.5%.”