Strong iPod sales expected for Apple’s March quarter

Apple could sell as many as 12 million iPods during its March quarter, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munser. Based on January iPod unit sales from NPD, the analyst estimates that Apple will see sales of 11 million to 12 million iPods during the quarter, slightly above the street consensus of 10.9 million units. “The 11m-12m unit range is based on various assumptions and is an extrapolation of one month of data,” Munster explained. “When the second month of data is released, our analysis will likely lead to a slightly different iPod unit figure than what our analysis suggests based on the first month of data, so we believe investors should supplement this data point with other information.”