Second analysts forecasts iPod hold-up

A second analyst has forecast iPod delays. Late last week, Baird analyst Tristan Gerra added his voice to American Technology Research market watcher Shaw Wu to tell investors higher-capacity iPod Nanos will not appear as early as expected.

As early as analysts and casual observers anticipated, that is. Apple has given no indications as to when - or, indeed, if - bigger Nanos will come to market.

Gerra's forecast, cited by a variety of newswires, has 6GB and 8GB Nanos coming to market in November. The timeline's based on a 31 per cent decline in NAND Flash spot-market prices, said to be the result of Apple pulling back memory orders from June to August.

The analyst also said he reckons NAND sale fell below vendor expectations in Q2. That implies there'll be rather more Flash chips in the channel during the coming months with prices falling to clear it. In turn, that could explain Apple's order delay - it's riding the pricing curve rather than pushing back product releases.

Either way, Gerra's words echo Wu's. The ATR analyst wrote last month forecasting a "quarter or two" delay to the release of the eagerly anticipated widescreen video iPod from his anticipated Q3/Q4 launch window. Wu also predicted a Nano set-back.