Apple Makes More From iTunes and Accessories Than Most Companies Do From Phones

[needfx]

omg : "...also notes that iTunes may be worth more to Apple than its Mac"

should we be worrying more & more?

[jasvncnt]

Originally Posted by lkrupp

This news makes me laugh at the naysayer crowd who live in their delusional RDF.

"iTunes is crapware, nobody uses it."

"Apple MUST move to a subscription service to survive."

"Amazon is killing the iTMS."

And of course...

"Android is WINNING!" (apologies to Charlie Sheen)

itunes is crapware..but yes most people use it. they dont know any better

[iheartiphone4]

They should change their name to "How You Like Them Apple"
I should trademark this...

[basesloaded190]

Originally Posted by MacAddict1978

The title of this is misleading....

Revenue means sales dollars.... this is not profit.

To say they make more from iTunes than other make from phones is a wrong depiction. And this is why people who don't understand financial numbers always get confused.

I'm sure it's comparing revenue to revenue. While not true net income, it's still not misleading.

[roadbloc]

Nice to see Nokia are bouncing back upwards. Always had a soft spot for their phones and it is great to see their transition to Windows Phone OS is paying off.

Poor Motorola are on their last 2 Billion.

[KdParker]

Originally Posted by lkrupp

This news makes me laugh at the naysayer crowd who live in their delusional RDF.

"iTunes is crapware, nobody uses it."

"Apple MUST move to a subscription service to survive."

"Amazon is killing the iTMS."

And of course...

"Android is WINNING!" (apologies to Charlie Sheen)

Well, haters will hate I guess.

Not sure why some people spend so much time putting iTunes down

[PracticalMac]

So, where is the other data points?
Apple iPhone and Samsung sales?

And why is HTC declining, their phones suck?
News to me.

[cxny]

I haven't spent a nickel in iTMS since Spotify was unleashed. Oops, I lied - wasted $25.00 on iTunes Match.

[Peace]

Originally Posted by KdParker

Well, haters will hate I guess.

Not sure why some people spend so much time putting iTunes down

It's kind of like Windows. Everybody uses it but it gets slapped around a lot.

[mrgraff]

Originally Posted by bigcat318

Because statistics are manipulated to prove the point you are trying to make.

80% of all statistics are made up.

[Anonymous Freak]

Originally Posted by MacAddict1978

The title of this is misleading....

Revenue means sales dollars.... this is not profit.

To say they make more from iTunes than other make from phones is a wrong depiction. And this is why people who don't understand financial numbers always get confused.

+1, or even +1,000,000.

Not to mention if you're going to talk about Apple's "music/app store and accessory revenue," then you would have to include other companies' as well. And something tells me Sony will win this argument.

[basesloaded190]

Originally Posted by mrgraff

80% of all statistics are made up.

Ain't that the truth.

[PracticalMac]

Originally Posted by KdParker

Well, haters will hate I guess.

Not sure why some people spend so much time putting iTunes down

Because the device interface and connection stability sucks!

iTunes and store are fine, works great.

[Peace]

Originally Posted by Anonymous Freak

+1, or even +1,000,000.

Not to mention if you're going to talk about Apple's "music/app store and accessory revenue," then you would have to include other companies' as well. And something tells me Sony will win this argument.

Sorry. Sony Music Group's 2010 revenue was around 5 Billion. that's less than iTunes.

[basesloaded190]

Originally Posted by Anonymous Freak

+1, or even +1,000,000.

Not to mention if you're going to talk about Apple's "music/app store and accessory revenue," then you would have to include other companies' as well. And something tells me Sony will win this argument.

Not sure if you understand what they are comparing here. iTunes sales versus total phone sales of other companies. If we were to include other companies' music and app store as well, then we would have to add in Apple's phone sales to continue to equal the comparison.

[roland.g]

Revenue and income however are not the same thing. The iTunes Store as a major component to their profit is a myth. iTunes Store inclusive of the app and movie stores is a just better than break even enterprise contributing less than 4% to Apple's bottom line. It is there solely to facilitate the sale of iOS and Mac products from which they make their best margins.

[Rogifan]

Originally Posted by MacAddict1978

The title of this is misleading....

Revenue means sales dollars.... this is not profit.

To say they make more from iTunes than other make from phones is a wrong depiction. And this is why people who don't understand financial numbers always get confused.

Yes I'd love to know the profit figures. Wasn't iTunes once considered a break even business?

[phillipduran]

iTunes. When fandroids or loomies started talking about how great their new phones are going to be and how they are going to be better than the iPhone, I always pointed them to iTunes and how that was the main reason that their phones wont beat the iPhone.

[ArtOfWarfare]

Would someone please explain why it is that Google will pay Apple for Apple to use their service but if I want to integrate Google searches into my App or Website I have to pay Google. It's the same freaking service, but Apple is able to purchase it for a negative amount of money!

[fxtech]

Originally Posted by Tankmaze

Apple earning in Q4 2012 was 36bn dollars in revenue, apple could make 3 A380 projects if they want in just one quarter revenue

Except they would be so full of bugs they would all crash and burn and pretty much end those projects. You need real quality control when dealing with airplanes.

[slu]

Finally people will stop with the nonsense that Apple doesn't make anything from iTunes and it only exists to sell hardware. This business has not been a break even business for years.

EDIT:

Originally Posted by roland.g

Revenue and income however are not the same thing. The iTunes Store as a major component to their profit is a myth. iTunes Store inclusive of the app and movie stores is a just better than break even enterprise contributing less than 4% to Apple's bottom line. It is there solely to facilitate the sale of iOS and Mac products from which they make their best margins.

I guess not. I know revenue and net income are not the same, but there is no way that the cost to run iTunes makes it a break even proposition. No way.

[Scottama]

Originally Posted by Reelknead1

Why was Samsung left off this chart?

A much bigger problem; why does the scale of the Y axis fluctuate wildly. Each gap represents $2 billion, $1 billion, $2 billion, and $1 billion respectively.

It takes a special kind of incompetence to pull this off.

[samcraig]

The math is crazy anyway - and obvious.

They are combining accessories for iPad, iPhone, etc + iTunes and then comparing it how much a company makes on a phone alone. Phones that sell less than the iPhone to begin with?

Well duh. Of course Apple makes more from their ecosystem AND all accessories than most phone manufacturers do on their phone.

In other news - McDonalds makes more money on all their beverages, side orders than Wendys and Burger King does on their burgers.

[locust76]

Wow, Google. That Motorola aquisition is really paying for itself, isn't it?

[bjm2660]

Sometimes it can be challenging to reconcile charts like these (which present Apple as such a formidable player) with more pessimistic financial reports (which provoke such ire from Wallstreet talking heads).

Which is it? Is Apple a dominant, powerful, effective company or is it a withering, coasting, declining company?

Discuss