You know, if Nostradamus were alive today, he would probably be a financial analyst. The closest we have, though, is Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray. A mild-mannered one, Gene is expecting Apple to sell 8 million iPods by the end of this quarter, citing a good sales report from the company in recent weeks.

According to MacObserver: "Mr. Munster noted that Apple's iPod market share in May was 76%, which was flat with April. However, he said: "The iPod number will likely be a nonevent for the June quarter. More importantly, we believe the Mac number has room for upside. We expect new versions of iPod and positive seasonality will be a catalyst for this segment of the business in the back half of 2006."

According to analyst Shaw Wu, who is known to have pitted himself against the great Gene Munster in a free-for-all death match for the title of world's most kick-ass Apple analyst, Apple seems on track to exceed its sales goal for the third quarter. According to Wu, the introduction of the new version of the Macbook a little earlier than expected should serve to give the company a boost in sales.

"MacBook is shipping one to two months ahead of our checks," wrote analyst Shaw Wu in a research note. "We thus have a higher degree of confidence that Apple is on track to hit the upper-end, if not exceed, its guidance."

Wu thinks that the pricing scheme for the latest Macbook makes it an attractive alternative to many consumers out there in the market for a good laptop. With its ability to boot Windows XP with Boot Camp, the computer is poised to see record sales, though Wu believes the $1,499 black version may be a little overpriced. I guess he didn't read one of our previous posts, huh?

Okay, let's get down to the nitty-gritty: Macs are not as outrageously expensive as other PC gear out there, it just seems that way. That's according to those zany analysts at Piper Jaffray, who said that the price of Macs nowadays are comparable to the price of PC-based laptops and desktops.

Gene Munster, who's made a name for himself recently by studying Apple and making some accurate forecasts, says that it's all in the consumers' perception that Apple's are more expensive computers. He said: "We believe both consumers and investors tend to believe that purchasing a Mac will cost 20 percent to 30 percent more than a PC," he said in a research note.

In case you want to look at the actual break-down and the cost comparisons, be sure to check out Cnet, which seems to counter the opinion on several levels. You can make the final determination for yourself. Of course, there isn't a PC out there that looks as sexy as some of Apple's latest products.

According to Forbes, who is not immune to discussing the limitless possibility of announcements that Apple may make in the near-future, Apple may be introducing a revamped iPod Shuffle. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster thinks good ol' Steve Jobs may make the announcement during his annual Macworld keynote address next Tuesday.

According to Munster, iPod may be preparing to unveil a new form factor for the Shuffle, possibly with a built-in screen to complement the new revision. Munster considers the evidence pointing to the new Shuffle:

"Evidence of this is the fact that Apple.com indicates that 1gigabyte iPod shuffles are sold out and supply will not be replenished until mid-January. 'We believe this is a sign that a new shuffle is coming at Macworld; otherwise Apple would likely have refilled the channel,' the analyst noted in research note today."

Guess the rest of us will have to wait until next week to see what it is Jobs has up his sleeve. With Microsoft announcing it wants to destroy iTunes, it may be an interesting speech indeed.

[Via, Forbes]