iTunes by the Numbers: $4.5B Revenue, Billings up 25% Year-Over-Year, $20B Paid to Devs, 75B App Downloads

Apple is doomed.

Why aren't these numbers higher? I would expect 30B profit per QTR by now!

I give Apple a lot of money each week. Almost $40-50 at times.

Shouldn't it be "G" for "giga" instead of "B"? Since people usually mean 10,000 when they say "10K", it's clear that the letter stands for the Greek prefix.

Time to leverage all those iTunes accounts. What's the number now? 600 million active accounts with attached credit card numbers?

If Apple wants to, they could become a major player in mobile payments. Device security (Touch ID + Secure Enclave) and user base (600+ million active iTunes accounts) are just two huge steps toward becoming the de facto e-wallet solution. Add the security sensor and backend server retail technology that is being used in the 428 Apple Stores around the world, and you have a pretty compelling retail security, inventory, and point-of-sale solution.

The iBeacon technology is also an open standard, so lesser platforms could also (try to) play along. Will be interesting to see if and how Apple evolves their various hardware and software systems for retail.

SockRolid said:

Time to leverage all those iTunes accounts. What's the number now? 600 million active accounts with attached credit card numbers?

Click to expand...

According to Cook, "most" iTunes have credit cards attached. So anything over a half.

(Many iTunes account holders are too young, too poor, or too privacy loving, to use a credit card.)

Still a large number, no matter what.

If only I had .001% of the App developer revenue, I'd be quite a happy man.

Wishbrah said:

Apple is doomed.

Click to expand...

Apple is gloating.

kdarling said:

According to Cook, "most" iTunes have credit cards attached. So anything over a half.

(Many iTunes account holders are too young, too poor, or too privacy loving, to use a credit card.)

Still a large number, no matter what.

Click to expand...

I just don't get those figures they keep putting out.

I would imagine a lot of those downloading apps (games) are kids who wouldn't have a credit card. Also, most people I know use iTunes cards to put credit onto their account rather than using their credit card.

600m is about 10% of the world's population which would make Apple the largest bank in the world by far. Doesn't seem credible but hey what the hell.

Apps for Apple TV

iTunes revenue will get a significant boost when a future Apple TV will support apps and 4K movies.

Shaun said:

I just don't get those figures they keep putting out.

I would imagine a lot of those downloading apps (games) are kids who wouldn't have a credit card. Also, most people I know use iTunes cards to put credit onto their account rather than using their credit card.

600m is about 10% of the world's population which would make Apple the largest bank in the world by far. Doesn't seem credible but hey what the hell.

Click to expand...

When kids have their own accounts, they often are funded with gift cards rather than credit cards.

The kids may not have their own credit cards, but families often share a single account. On that basis, the notion of 600 million households with iTunes accounts is even more staggering.

Countering that, It's also not uncommon for one person to have more than one account - often they're old, dormant accounts with inaccessible/inactive email addresses, forgotten passwords, individuals who married and switched over to a spouse's account, accounts simply forgotten over the passage of time, etc. (yeah, there are ways to fix the password/email issues, but not everyone reads support documents).

Come the fall, we may see an explosion in the number of new accounts, due to the family sharing features being added with iOS 8, iTunes 12, and Yosemite. I figure a fair number of parents will then setup separate accounts for the kids with neither credit card nor gift card spending - parents would do all the purchasing on their account, the kids could still download those purchases from their own account. That could have the effect of changing that "most iTunes Store accounts have credit cards" to "many have credit cards."

kdarling said:

According to Cook, "most" iTunes have credit cards attached. So anything over a half.

(Many iTunes account holders are too young, too poor, or too privacy loving, to use a credit card.)

Still a large number, no matter what.

Click to expand...

Good point. I think a fair percentage of iTunes users use gift cards instead of their own (or their parents') credit cards. For themselves as well as for actual gifting. This limits the loss if their account gets "hacked"*. And it keeps them aware of how much they're spending, kind of like rationing.

Funny. I thought streaming was starting to impact iTunes revenue. Yet another way that technology is altering "old media" including recorded music. And I also thought streaming was bad for artists. Because the concept of "just stream a specific musical genre-niche" downgrades music to an ambient background noise. Just a way of telling others how hip you are and not because you like any specific artists' work. ("I'm a Buddha Lounge hipster at the moment, check me out.") Kind of like burning incense instead of applying more expensive perfume or cologne.

But no, iTunes total revenue increased pretty significantly year over year. Although I suspect the music + TV + movie purchases are declining. As an aside, I think "streaming" means different things for music and video content. For me, "streaming music" means listening to random tracks that are all of a specific genre, to fit your mood at the moment. And "streaming video" means watching a single live event or TV show or movie. Same basic cloud-server-to-your-device transport technology, different consumption mode.

(* I'm pretty sure most "hacked" iTunes accounts had extremely weak passwords.)

Most profitable company in the world? Appleisdooomeddoe!