“It’s hard to recall any branded recreational product that ever carried the cultural oomph that the iPod now has. The Hula-Hoop was a fad. The PlayStation, the Prince tennis racket, and the Big Bertha golf club have all had significant competitors. As for the Walkman, the iPod’s mobile-music ancestor, it generated massive sales. But it never impacted behavior or peripheral markets quite the way the iPod has,” Andy Serwer reports for Fortune.
“Apple has now sold some 15 million (and counting) iPods worldwide, and contrary to what many Steve Jobs bashers suggested, sales didn’t fade away after Christmas. In fact, the company sold 5.3 million of these babies in the first quarter of 2005. (That’s more than one per second of every working day during those three months,)” Serwer reports. “Even more than its astounding success in the marketplace, the iPod has become a true cultural and social phenomenon—it’s influencing lives in a way that consumer marketing types usually only fantasize about. The iPod is not just the ultimate tween girl accouterment. It’s practically indispensable in a Wall Streeter’s briefcase, it’s often a soccer mother’s little helper, and it’s definitely in every college dude’s backpack. (Duke says it is ending its policy of giving it gratis to all incoming freshman. Of course: They all have one already!) How many products have that kind of demographic span? Meanwhile, the Pod is revolutionizing the retail music business as we download scads of songs—over 400 million at last count—from Apple’s iTunes music store.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Those who predict the “slowing down” of iPod sales fail to realize that 500% gains are simply not sustainable and seem to forget that Apple is due to sell about 5.35 – 5.5 million iPod units this current quarter, according to a recent reports by Goldman Sachs and Piper Jaffray respectively. Apple sold 5.311 million iPod units during its fiscal 2005 second quarter ended March 26, 2005 and 4.58 million iPod units during its fiscal 2005 first quarter ended December 25, 2004. In its fiscal 2004 fourth quarter ended September 25, 2004, Apple sold 2.016 million iPod units. Clearly, Apple’s just getting started selling iPods.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple shares slide on reports of iPod sales of over 5 million for quarter – June 03, 2005
Goldman Sachs expects ‘little sequential growth’ in Apple iPod shipments this quarter – June 02, 2005
Piper raises Apple estimates on Mac sales strength; estimates 5.5 million iPods shipped this quarter – May 26, 2005