Encouraging investors to buy Apple shares, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster outlined his own vision of how the Cupertino company’s iPod might evolve, highlighting the double-whammy of WiFi and MultiTouch as key leverage in the market.  Munster believes Apple’s intent is to steer the iPod line toward “mobile computing and Internet-connected portable devices”, maintaining Apple’s 70-percent share of the PMP market particularly through replacement purchases, as well as reducing overall cost of the units and maintaining its all-important dollar share.

“In order to achieve [15-percent] year-over-year iPod growth, we are expecting Apple to introduce cheaper, innovative iPods with Wi-Fi and multi-touch technology” Gene Munster, analyst, Piper Jaffray

“If for example you are on your way to Starbucks, you could wirelessly order your drink from your iPod, pay for it using your iTunes account or the attached credit card, and pick it up without ever standing in line or waiting at a cash register.  These features (and possible features) make the iPod touch more of a mobile computing device than a simple iPod” Gene Munster, analyst, Piper Jaffray

Munster’s focus on the iPod Touch is not dissimilar to that of rival analyst Charlie Wolf, who has recently suggested that Apple knowingly “cannibalized” iPhone sales in Q4 2007 so as to ensure the Touch would become established as not just a PMP but a mobile internet portal.

[via Apple Insider]