Total iPod Touch Sales Estimated at Over 45 Million

[FearNo1]

I think the touch is the better buy period. Why be locked into a contract and pay another monthly bill when wifi is so prevalent today? And ppl wonder why they are so broke today...

Nah, just look at the Total Cost of Ownership. For a smartphone, it ranges between $1800-2600 over a two-year contract. You can get an iPod touch for about $200.

Let's not forget that the demographics of the iPod touch skew much younger (13-24) than the iPhone (25-49). Those youngsters simply don't have the financial resources to afford pricey postpaid contracts and data plans, unless mommy and daddy are willing to foot the bill.

Any way you do the math, the TCO is far lower for the iPod touch. Remember that iPod touch sales continue to be strong overseas, where most of the iPhone markets have dropped carrier exclusivity many months ago (even over a year ago).

The way the iPod touch would fade is if the carriers would offer smartphone contracts at $25 per month and give the device away for free. That's not going to happen. The iPhone's Bill Of Materials cost is nearly $190 and a carrier like AT&T is likely paying a subsidy of $350-400 per handset.

What's really odd is that with the exception of the Microsoft Zune HD (which is only sold in the United States), there is no credible competitor to the iPod touch. It appears that other companies are willing to concede this market to Apple.

 

[Hephaestus]

Now don't get yourself ensnared in your own chain-link net of reasoning, Hephaestus. Sorry, I couldn't help it.

I understand what you say. And I agree that Apple could provide more detailed information, but then again, without Apple's secretiveness, this site would be much less fun.

Back to the facts: Steve Jobs stated they got 50+% market share. As my link showed it makes perfect sense to talk about market share referring to a certain time frame.

I don't care how many Nintendos and PSPs are out there gathering dust. But I'd like to know how many iPods have been sold, because it gives you a hint how many of them will be sold this quarter and next quarter.

Thats a fair point and your last statement makes total sense, last quarters sales do of course have an indication of future sales. However, it does annoy me when people make misleading statements. Since that statement I've heard so many people say 'OMG iPod touch has sold more than DS', when in fact the NDS has sold more than all iOS devices combined.

 

[Cinematographer]

I've heard so many people say 'OMG iPod touch has sold more than DS', when in fact the NDS has sold more than all iOS devices combined.

Yes, that's annoying indeed. Maybe I should add that I look at the whole story from an inverstor's point of view. I'm not a gamer and I don't care so much about total units sold of the gaming devices. I try to add the bits and pieces of information we get from Apple about the iPod touch. And I get the impression that not only 47% of the iPods sold are iPod touches (as I said in a previous post), but maybe 50% or even 55%. Maybe with more milestone announcements like the "120 mio iOS devices" thing, the picture is getting clearer.

 

[marksman]

Market share doesn't equal total units sold to date? That is utter nonsense. Since when did quarterly sales reflect market share? Maybe if you've been smoking something or you can't comprehend the fact that Steve Jobs could be talking nonsense, that is a possibility you know.

If he was referring to a specific quarter he should have said that, but he didn't which is extremely misleading. Quarterly sales can go up or down any time and have no effect what so ever on actual market share unless you accumulate every product that is currently out there being used by consumers. It was misleading, false and the logic you just presented is ridiculous.

Marketshare does not equal total units sold to date and never has.

Not to be rude but this introduction to business level stuff.

As I noted previously, market share is a measure of sales. It depicts company's "share" or percentage of the most recent or specific time period market.

For any given period of time the total percentage for all sales is 100%. Almost never is this period of time all-time because that information is of little to no use of people running a businness. Monthly, quarterly and yearly are the most common time frames for this measurement.

Imagine if tv marketshare was based on all tvs ever sold? How would the 100s of millions of tvs sold in the 50s,60s,70s and 80s be at all relevant to the current tv market?