Gene Munster

Tell me again. Why do we think Apple will make a TV set?

After four years of speculation there's still not a shred of hard evidence

A lot of analysts talk about Apple's (AAPL) plans to make a television -- an actual TV set, not just a set-top box -- but last week, Jefferies' Peter Misek did something most have been careful not to do.

Citing "increased confidence" that Apple's iTV is coming, he wrote into his published forecasts the revenue from its sales: 2 million MORE

Teen survey: 34% own an iPhone, 40% want one

Apple is the favorite -- once again -- in Piper Jaffray's 23rd semi-annual teen survey

"The bottom line," writes Gene Munster in a note summarizing the results of Piper Jaffray's latest survey of the aspirations of American teenagers, "is that 40% of students plan on buying an iPhone in the next 6 months while 19% of non-tablet owners plan on purchasing a tablet in the next 6 months."

Wishes, of course, can't MORE

Munster: How Apple becomes the first $1 trillion company

Its market cap today is $577 billion. Where do the next $400-plus billion come from? 

In a note to clients issued early Tuesday, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster raised his Q2 iPhone estimate (to 33 million), set a new 12-month price target ($910 per share) and -- most provocatively -- laid out a roadmap for Apple's (AAPL) market capitalization to go from $576.79 billion as of Monday's close to $1 trillion by MORE

Pros vs. Indies on Apple's Q2 2012: A $6.8 billion gap

The difference in their quarterly forecasts has never been so great

In the three and a half years that I've been pitting the analysts who cover Apple (AAPL) for Wall Street against the growing cadre of independent analysts who do it for fun (and, presumably, their own profit), I've never seen a gap this big -- either in dollar or percentage terms.

According to Thomson/First Call, the published consensus of 42 professional analysts MORE

Apple's iOS devices: Selling 'em as fast as it can make 'em

The company is ramping up production at ever more impressive rates

Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook often says about the company's iOS devices that it is selling them as fast as it can make them.

In that context, the chart published Tuesday by Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster illustrates what may be Cook's most impressive achievement as COO: The rate at which he has been able to ramp up production.

Five years ago, it took MORE

NYC iPad line: Shorter than iPad 2, longer than expected

An analyst offers 3 reasons that 750 customers at 8 a.m. was "strong start"

Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster flew to New York City for Apple's (AAPL) launch of the new Pad Friday morning and counted 750 people waiting in line outside the big glass cube on Fifth Avenue when doors opened at 8 a.m.

He declared it a "strong start" despite the fact that Friday's headcount was 37% lower than the 1,190 MORE

A guide to Apple's guidance

What to make of those pesky forward-looking statements in today's earnings report

It used to be that traders rewarded or punished Apple's (AAPL) shares right after its earnings releases based not on the sales it reported for the past quarter, but on what the company said about the quarter to come. Apple tends to "guide conservatively," in the jargon of the trade, which Wall Street often interpreted as a disappointment.

But that MORE

How much of the school tablet market belongs to Apple?

100% according to a survey of educational technology directors conducted in October

In the wake of Apple's (AAPL) iPad textbook announcement Thursday, it might be useful to take a second look at Piper Jaffray's October survey of 25 school technology directors. The sample is small, concedes Gene Munster, who conducted the survey, but so is the population IT decision makers in U.S. schools.

Among his findings:

Apple has a virtual lock on the MORE

Piper Jaffray lowers its Mac estimate, raises its iPhone

Apple's U.S. MacBook sales came in softer than expected in December, according to NPD

In a note to clients issued Tuesday, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster offered his analysis of the NPD Group's final PC retail sales data for 2011.

The news, as he sees is, is good and bad.

Domestic Mac unit sales were up 12% for the quarter, according to NPD, which isn't bad given that sales of Microsoft (MSFT) Windows PCs MORE

iPhones and iPads top teen wish lists this Christmas

Only "money" and "clothes" scored higher in an annual pre-holiday survey

For 22 years, Piper Jaffray researchers have been asking American teenagers what they want for Christmas, and for the past four years Apple (AAPL) products have been moving steadily up the wish lists.

All told, according to a note to clients issued Monday by senior research analyst Gene Munster, 11.2% of the 5,700 teenagers surveyed this fall named one Apple product MORE