Apple's iTunes Division Now Nearly Half the Size of Google's Search Business

[MacRumors]

Apple's quarterly earnings may be stagnant, but at least one division within the company is showing extraordinary growth. As noted by Asymco analyst Horace Dediu, Apple's iTunes/Software/Services division grew by 34 percent year-over-year after taking into account the 70% Apple pays to developers for App Store purchases.

Dediu estimates that Apple's gross revenues from the iTunes/Software/Services group are almost $7 billion per quarter, with a total of $23.5 billion for 2013. This includes growth categories such as third-party content (+46.6 percent), Services (+37 percent) and apps, which grew 105 percent year-over-year. This division is remarkable when compared to rival Google and other Fortune 500 companies.

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Although iTunes/Software/Services are not usually included in a "sum-of-the-parts" total contributing to Apple's overall enterprise value, the scale of volume and value of transactions is becoming harder to ignore.

To illustrate this, I plotted the history of gross iTunes revenues vs. Google's search business.

On a yearly basis iTunes/Software/Services is nearly half of Google's core business and growing slightly faster.

The iTunes "empire" of content and services would be ranked as number 130 in the Fortune 500 ranking of companies (slightly below Alcoa and above Eli Lilly).

Despite reporting its highest revenue ever and its best quarterly sales for the iPhone, iPad and Mac, Apple is still under fire for not being a growth company. In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Tim Cook argued that Apple is still growing, just at a slower rate, and said the company has significant opportunities in both existing and new product categories.


Article Link: Apple's iTunes Division Now Nearly Half the Size of Google's Search Business

 

[Sky Blue]

Stick an App Store on the Apple TV and have it grow a little more

 

[flottenheimer]

Glad to see that revenue from 'Pro Apps' is growing.

Wondering if 'App Gross Revenues' includes apps from the Mac App Store? And if Apple has released any Mac App Store specific numbers? (As a user, it seems incredibly stale).

 

[andrew0122]

Impressive!!!

 

[Sky Blue]

Glad to see that revenue from 'Pro apps' is growing.

Yeah, that's interesting. i guess iLife/iWork/OS X will be non existent soon as less people need to buy it.

 

[Padaung]

What I found interesting was the significant decline in music revenue. Are listeners moving to streaming services rather than purchasing a track/album outright?

 

[casperes1996]

Input limits it

Stick an App Store on the Apple TV and have it grow a little more

What apps, other than the ones that come with AppleTV, would you like, that you can control with the remote? Other than media apps, there's not really much to add to the AppleTV, unless they change the input method. And I kinda like the "singular purpose" device that the Apple TV currently is, keeping everything simple.

 

[monaarts]

Yeah, that's interesting. i guess iLife/iWork/OS X will be non existent soon as less people need to buy it.

Don't worry - I am sure Apple has some other plans to monopolize from it outside of it just being free with an iOS device purchase. Maybe a "Pro" version of iWork/iLife that provides extra features? Maybe a subscription service (iTunes Match?) from Apple that includes extra features, no ads, and a few free downloads a month or something? They can also now sell in-app purchases to more people because everyone buying an iOS device gets it for free now.

 

[Gudi]

Horace Dediu

... knows more about the mobile market than even the players in it.​

 

[candle]

Stick an App Store on the Apple TV and have it grow a little more

Playing some iOS games via AppleTV (w/ an alternate controller)...

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

What apps, other than the ones that come with AppleTV, would you like, that you can control with the remote? Other than media apps, there's not really much to add to the AppleTV, unless they change the input method. And I kinda like the "singular purpose" device that the Apple TV currently is, keeping everything simple.

That remote has 7 buttons, correct? It's plenty to make a simple 2D platformer like Mario. You could make a weather app, a dashboard app (something that continually monitors stats at your company)... Heck, people could make apps that stream their own content. Basically it lets Apple open up the TV market to indies with no budget. Right now such people are relegated to YouTube, but if they were allowed to add a channel to your TV, that could take them from being just an amusing 3 minute clip you look at on the toilet to actual 30 minutes of more serious content on the TV in the evening.

 

[jav6454]

What I found interesting was the significant decline in music revenue. Are listeners moving to streaming services rather than purchasing a track/album outright?

I think overall streaming/radio is a better business model for everyone. Me personally, I want to have access to many songs and not have to buy them. But if I can listen to all of them with ads in between I'd be happier.

Plus. by streaming you save me the hassle of having to buy storage for said songs (although song storage is a moot point if you have a 1TB drive in your Mac/PC).

 

[futbalguy]

What I found interesting was the significant decline in music revenue. Are listeners moving to streaming services rather than purchasing a track/album outright?

Yes of course. I used to buy CDs, then moved to itunes and had a large collection. I switched to Spotify a few years ago and havent bought music in at least 2 years now. Everyone I know only uses Spotify or youtube. I doubt most people pay anything for music these days. Probably terrible for the music industry. I would pay more than I do for it because I think it is worth it, but everything is so cheap now. More money for concerts I suppose.

 

[rhett7660]

Stick an App Store on the Apple TV and have it grow a little more

Oh this is the dream isn't it. Can you imagine some of the things one might be able to do with an App Store for the Apple TV!!!

I know I have a lot of ideas for it and I am sure there are those that have a lot more vision than me. Come on Apple open this puppy up!

 

[Harmonious Zen]

I would love it if Tim Cook just said one day, "you know what? You're right - maybe we're NOT a growth company anymore. And maybe we don't even care if we are or not!"

 

[2010mini]

Stick an App Store on the Apple TV and have it grow a little more

Yes!

 

[casperes1996]

That remote has 7 buttons, correct? It's plenty to make a simple 2D platformer like Mario. You could make a weather app, a dashboard app (something that continually monitors stats at your company)... Heck, people could make apps that stream their own content. Basically it lets Apple open up the TV market to indies with no budget. Right now such people are relegated to YouTube, but if they were allowed to add a channel to your TV, that could take them from being just an amusing 3 minute clip you look at on the toilet to actual 30 minutes of more serious content on the TV in the evening.

7 buttons, yes. One is the home button, the click wheel like thing can only have one button down at a time, which eliminates the 2d platformed, not to mention the input lag there is at the moment. Then you have the button layout that wouldn't fit your game either. Your other app suggestions are more likely, and seem like valid reasons, but honestly I couldn't imagine more than like 3-4 apps that would be useful

 

[sir1963nz]

What I found interesting was the significant decline in music revenue. Are listeners moving to streaming services rather than purchasing a track/album outright?

or is there simply less music worth listening to ?

I am finding I buy significantly less new music and play the stuff I already own more often.

 

[Nevaborn]

music sales will fluctuate depending on the quality of songs out and iWork is still below par.

The real plus side is services and pro apps are on the increase. Maybe just maybe Apple is realising they have to move away from the original envision of a social infrastructure and also accommodate for business use.

 

[darkslide29]

I would love it if Tim Cook just said one day, "you know what? You're right - maybe we're NOT a growth company anymore. And maybe we don't even care if we are or not!"

Stockholders would not like that, and there would be a huge stock dump.

 

[cclloyd]

Then Clash of Clans and Candy Crush get removed and it plummets

 

[2457282]

or is there simply less music worth listening to ?

I am finding I buy significantly less new music and play the stuff I already own more often.

Well this may be a case of age or library size or both. I have over 12,000 songs in my library and I too find myself buying less. As I age, I think it also has to do with me not connecting to current music the younger than me are listening to. So between my ambivalence and my large collection, I buy less.

But for the younger crowd I do think the issue is why buy when I can listen to it through a spotify or Pandora or itune radio? If you are going somewhere where you may not have internet access, then downloading makes more sense, but those places are becoming extinct as network coverage increases.

I can tell you that a DJ for example ABSOLUTELY downloads music - take no chance of a network issue killing the music in the club, thank you. Again, I think these use cases are becoming more rare. Me I am old enough that I will always buy and own and download my music. Nice to have the radio and the icloud, but I like staring at my hard drives and knowing that my favorites are snuggled and safe at home

 

[newagemac]

or is there simply less music worth listening to ?

I am finding I buy significantly less new music and play the stuff I already own more often.

...says every new generation ever as they grow older.

 

[Crosslad]

What apps, other than the ones that come with AppleTV, would you like, that you can control with the remote? Other than media apps, there's not really much to add to the AppleTV, unless they change the input method. And I kinda like the "singular purpose" device that the Apple TV currently is, keeping everything simple.

I would like to see Apple TV have an app store that you can download games and connect a bluetooth controller to to play games this could be either a dedicated controller or an app on your iphone/ipod touch. The apple tv would only need to have the internals of an ipod touch less battery and screen so should be relatively cheap to manufacture. To be honest though this can be achieved using an iphone/ipod touch with an hdmi cable.

 

[casperes1996]

Sure but.

I would like to see Apple TV have an app store that you can download games and connect a bluetooth controller to to play games this could be either a dedicated controller or an app on your iphone/ipod touch. The apple tv would only need to have the internals of an ipod touch less battery and screen so should be relatively cheap to manufacture. To be honest though this can be achieved using an iphone/ipod touch with an hdmi cable.

I wish for you that this happens, but in terms of removing appletv from its hobby status, no... Look at the Ouya. Basically the same thing (except the App Store is bigger than the android app market) and it was a terrible fluke.