Based on our latest Holiday Central survey, it should be a very merry Christmas for Apple Computer. Margaret Brennan reported on the iPod's popularity in our survey on "Power Lunch."
According to the second edition of our Holiday Central survey, some 8% of those polled expect to buy an iPod this year. Based on our extrapolations, that means sales of about 17 million units. And at an average cost of $159 a machine, that adds up to $2.7 billion for Apple.
Other gadget makers might be excused for being green with envy. The survey shows 3% of those polled plan to buy a Nitendo Wii or Sony PlayStation 3 and 2% have their eyes on Microsoft's Xbox 360.