AAPL to grow due to Macs, not iPhone, iPod?

Apple's Macintosh computers will play a bigger role in the company's growth than the iPhone and iPod, according to industry analysts. CNN Money reports that BMO Capital Markets analyst Keith Bachman today cut Apple's stock target from $160 to $140 per share. Bachman says that the iPhone's growth is slowing and he remains skeptical on Apple's target of 10 million units sold; his own forecast sees Apple moving around 8.5 million iPhones.

Bachman sees the Mac increasing marketshare, and raised his estimate of 8.2 million units sold to 9.4 million. He also raised quarterly estimates from 1.87 million to 2.06 million.

The iPod shows signs of stagnation due to a likely saturated market, noting that the 22 million iPods sold during the January quarter is only five percent higher than the year ago quarter. This is short of forecasts all throughout the industry, and Bachman has lowered expected sales from 54.6 million iPods sold to 51.1 million.

Bachman says that Apple could recover some ground on the iPhone by introducing less expensive models, as well as opening the device to more carriers.