Merrill Lynch cuts iPod estimates

Merrill Lynch analyst Richard Farmer today lowered his iPod shipment estimates for Apple’s March quarter from 10.1 million to 8.8 million units. Based on monthly data from NPD Techworld, Farmer said he believes that March shipment numbers, to be released on April 19, will be below both January and February figures. Farmer’s 2006 iPod estimate falls from 53 million to 47 million units. Shaw Wu of American Technology Research said he also expects Apple to report iPod sales of 8.8 million units, while Bear Sterns analyst Andrew Neff said he expects Apple to ship 10.5 million iPods during the quarter.