Analyst: iPod Updates By Holidays, Additional OS Support For Macs?

Following a meeting with top Apple executives, Bear Stearns analyst Andy Neff sent a note to clients regarding a range of issues, both current and future.

Of note, Neff mentions that Apple is likely to refresh their iPod line ahead of the holiday shopping season similar to what it has done in years past. Should the rumored "true" video iPod appear with these updates, it would be offered as a complementary product to the iPods and not as a replacement. Neff also briefly mentions that he feels Apple is indeed working on an iPod phone, however he is uncertain as to the timing of its release.

Incremental iPod updates have been rumored to arrive, with a larger video iPod release having been pushed back to the end of 2006 or later due to technical difficulties. Analysts have also predicted that an Apple-branded phone would arrive by early next year at the latest.

Neff also mentions that Apple is testing ways to drive mac sales, including developing the capability to run more Operating Systems.

While Apple launched Boot Camp to accommodate the use of Windows, it views the tight integration of hardware and software (Mac OS) as key to creating superior user experience, although it is looking at different ways to better address users needs for multiple OSs.

While this probably means that Apple is simply investigating adding support for additional OSs into Boot Camp, it could hint that Apple is creating a virtualization solution of its own.