American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu believes Apple will sell 7.1 million iPods in the current quarter, according to a report by Macworld UK. The figure for the company's fourth fiscal quarter, which ends in September, represent signficant sequential growth from previous June quarter in which the company sold 6,155,000 iPods: the figure is up 15 percent from the previous quarter, but the analyst said that the average selling prices of iPods may come under greater than expected pressuress.
The research firm cites recent "aggressive" pricing and other 4GB iPod mini promotions--an effort to clear out existing high inventory levels--and a reported Apple-Samsung deal for substantial amounts of flash memory in the coming quarters as evidence of upcoming flash memory-based iPod mini. The analyst maintained a 'hold' on Apple stock with a price target of $42.