macnn/ipodnn
10/27/2008, 12:10pm, EDT
Monday, October 27th
iPod only 14.2 percent of Apple Q4 revenue?
Sales of the iPod have become only a small portion of Apple's revenue stream, claims Bullish Cross. Reflecting on Apple's fourth-quarter financial results, the site notes that company revenue grew approximately 75 percent year-over-year, if revenue deferred through GAAP procedures is taken into account. Under these conditions, the iPod -- frequently cited as the reason for Apple's rebirth -- has dwindled into comparative insignificance, representing only 14.2 percent of revenue for Q4 2008.
This fact is said to be deceptive, however, because iPod revenue growth is continuing to accelerate. The real issue is that Mac and iPhone sales have grown substantially, and now account for 70 percent of Apple's business. The iPhone in particular is rapidly gaining on the iPod, and is described as beginning to overtake the iPod as the second-largest contributor to GAAP revenue, having brought in $800 million during Q4. Discarding GAAP, the iPhone contributed $4.67 billion.
Cross predicts that by 2009, the iPhone will surpass the iPod in GAAP revenue; as a result, the site argues, people should discard the impression that Apple is dependent on the iPod.
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Questions or answers?
I'm begging you, please stop using question marks in your headlines. Why would someone want to read a story whose headline already tells me you don't know if the story has any merit? Your headline should be "Source Claims iPod is Only 14.2 Percent of Apple Q4 Revenue". Or maybe "iPod Is Only 14.2 Percent of Apple Q4 Revenue" (in other words, find out whether the claim is true before you publish). Or perhaps "Claims That iPod Is Only 14.2 Percent Of Apple Revenue Are Untrue".
You do this question mark thing multiple times every day and it makes you appear to be less of an authority on all things Mac. It also makes me skip the stories because I know I'm not going to learn anything definitive.
So...?
Thank heavens that Apple isn't relying on a music player for 50% of its income! they used to say 'as the iPod goes, so goes Apple'. Well, not anymore brother.
As Apple's revenues increase, it is only natural that a single product line would NOT account for 50% of its earnings. 2 years ago, Apple was not making nearly as much as it is now.
With the introduction of the iPhone, AppleTV, mass iTunes purchases, and the resurgence of Mac sales, Apple is increasing overall income and spreading the monetary love across the other 'legs of the chair'.
I want to sit on a chair that has many strong legs; not just one strong leg and several thin, weak ones.
FXOLeary
in other words, find out whether the claim is true before you publish
sorry, but this will never happen. It would require that MacNN actually do something other than truncate other peoples articles (and not proofread them to boot)
what apple wanted/neeeded
This is exactly what Apple both wanted and needed. As stated, iPod revenue itself isn't lowering, it's just becoming a smaller piece of Apple's pie. It used to be a bigger piece because Apple wasn't selling as many Macs, nor did it have the iPhone as a product line.
It definitely shouldn't be surprising....... the last two "iPods" I bought were the original iPhone and an iPhone 3G..... as an iPhone owner, I had less reason to buy a dedicated iPod. The last ACTUAL iPod I bought was a first-gen iPod Nano, which is still going strong (and I still keep for my clock radio and Nike ).
sooooo.....
14.2% of 8 billion dollars for the quarter works out to only about 1 billion bucks. I guess that's considered chump change.
but...
It is all nice and all to just run some calculations based on what what could be based on how numbers are or are not reported, it doesn't matter.
What matters to investors (read analysts, brokers, etc that actually move the stock's price) is what the quarterly numbers come back as. It is exciting that Apple is raking in cash on the iPhone, but that doesn't do as much for the Q1 results as a slew of new iPod sales.
So what???
Why is this so important? I love the iPod (and the iPhone) but, the Mac is the primary product produced by Apple.