Shares of Apple Computer Inc. jumped after a Salomon Smith Barney analyst issued a report saying he believes that Apple's new consumer portable computer is on track for launch at MacWorld next month.
In the past week, some reports on the Internet have surfaced speculating that Apple (AAPL) is having production problems with the much-anticipated consumer portable and that it could be delayed. One report, on MSNBC.com last week, went as far as to say that Apple was even considering scrapping the project.
"There were reports last week that Apple's new consumer portable might be delayed," said Richard Gardner, a Salomon Smith Barney analyst, in a report to clients. "We believe the new product is on track for a July 21 introduction."
Gardner also reiterated a buy rating and his US$55 price target on Apple stock. Apple shares were up $2.06 to $44.63 in active trading on NASDAQ. Gardner was not available for further comment.
Apple officials in Cupertino, California, declined to comment on any details of unannounced products or confirm analysts' speculation that the rumored product will be launched at MacWorld in New York on 21 July, where interim chief executive Steve Jobs is due to give a keynote address.
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"We announced it awhile ago, saying we would announce it in 1999," said Natalie Welch, an Apple spokeswoman. "Unfortunately, we are not announcing anything further. We said we would release it in 1999 and we are on track."
When Jobs first outlined Apple's more streamlined, focused product strategy in May 1998, he also said that Apple would introduce a consumer portable in 1999. But few details have emerged and Apple officials are mum. In December, Jobs met with a group of educators and told them a new consumer portable would come out sometime in the first half of 1999.
"If you are designing a whole new form factor, some delays are inevitable, but my understanding is that prototypes exist," said Lou Mazzucchelli, a Gerard Klauer Mattison & Co. "If they exist they should be able to get the bugs ironed out. I think we are going to see an announcement at MacWorld, with shipment in the fall."
Analysts had been speculating that Apple would launch the consumer portable at MacWorld in July, just ahead of the back-to-school shopping season going into September.
"If they make September they will catch part of it," Mazzucchelli said. "In fact, you can argue that anything before the end of the year, they will catch a little bit of it."
The education market is one of Apple's primary targets, but it has lacked a low-cost portable for this market since it shut down the production of the clam-shelled eMate.
Some published reports late last year said that the consumer portable, which is code-named the P1, is going to be a sleek, iMac-like portable, made of translucent plastic with a built-in Ethernet network connection.
