Signs are beginning to trickle out from analysts who examine the flow of merchandise coming out of Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) that Apple is already well into an expectations-beating holiday quarter. Just this November it's estimated that some 300,000 MacBooks have moved off the shelves.Clearly the Zune is not going to challenge iPod holiday sales. At best it's come a distant second, with some claiming that the Zune is sinking from that spot if you monitor Amazon interest as a benchmark. Even if Zune beats out the iPod in years to come, it won't be happening this Christmas season. iPod and particularly iPod Shuffle sales will probably be as strong as any other holiday season.
And then there's a surprising X-factor. Needham & Company's analyst Charles Wolf thinks they've been too conservative about the effect of switchers to Apple due to Apple's ability to run Windows as well using Bootcamp. As a result Needham's target price for Apple has been raised from $90 to $115 to take it into account.
Tobias Buckell is a freelance writer, author, and professional blogger. He owns Apple stock.
Despite the launch of the new Microsoft Zune for the holiday season, Piper Jaffray is estimating that some 14-15 million iPods are going to roll off the shelves this winter. Gene Munster, the Apple guru over at Piper Jaffray, has taken a look at early October sales data and thinks Apple's iPod sales are trending positive. Very positive.
Apple's new iPod Shuffle will begin shipping at the end of the month, or 'within a couple weeks' according to the company at a 
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