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rdowns

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
Jul 11, 2003
27,397
12,521
Apple is firing on all cylinders. Canb't recall when they had so much positive press.


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The San Francisco Chronicle published an article Monday about Apple's growing software sales. The report noted that just behind the company's iPod business, software is the fastest growing segment of Apple's business. In fiscal 2004 (ending in the September quarter), Apple sold some US$503 million in software, up 39% from 2003.

"Definitely, the software business has been growing quite robustly," Shaw Wu, an analyst at American Technology Research, told the Chronicle. "They have more software packages in there, and the operating system upgrades are definitely important."

Not noted in the report is that earning money from software was one of the early goals of Steve Jobs when he returned to the help of Apple in 1997.

"Apple is committed to increasing the revenue it makes from its software products," Apple said in the press release announcing the acquisition of Steve Jobs NeXT, "and the acquisition of NeXT is a significant development in building a differentiated, sustainable and profitable software business."

One of the first changes to this effect was the introduction of QuickTime Pro, a paid version of Apple's multimedia software that included many of the advanced features previously available for free.

Since that time, Apple has introduced a number of software products like the iApps product line with iMovie, iPhoto, and iDVD. Originally introduced as free downloads, Apple eventually bundled them with GarageBand to make its popular iLife suite, a commercial package.
Apple's Software Sales Are Growing


Today, iLife is a driving force in bringing people into Apple's fleet of retail stores.

Apple also entered into the digital video editing and professional digital recording businesses with Final Cut Pro, which was purchased from Macromedia, Shake, which came with the purchase of Nothing Real, and the Logic family, which was included in the purchase of Emagic.

The Chronicle's full report covered such issues as how having a quality software experience is key to bringing in new customers to the Mac platform, Apple being in competition with Adobe (Final Cut Pro), Microsoft (iWork), and third party developers like Pixoria, the makers of Konfabulator.

San Francisco Chronicle Article
 

wrldwzrd89

macrumors G5
Jun 6, 2003
12,110
77
Solon, OH
iMovie and iDVD in particular (as well as GarageBand, which wasn't introduced until after this became a non-issue) needed to be distributed on CD or even DVD because they're so big that downloading them is prohibitive, even for a typical broadband user in the USA (Apple's primary market, since they're based in the USA). Therefore, the development of iLife helped Apple in more ways than one. First, the primary reason: help Apple make more money on software. Secondly, this change reduced shipping expenses for Apple, since previously iDVD and iMovie were distributed separately. Finally, the creation of iLife gave Apple additional brand recognition and helped them to grow as a company.
 
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