“Poor Steve Jobs. His Apple Computer has become so successful that it now has only himself to compete with. And he might be losing,” Rachel Rosmarin writes for Forbes. “Jobs announced Wednesday afternoon that Apple sold 8.5 million iPod music players last quarter. That’s an impressive number, but less than the 9 million-plus that Wall Street had predicted. And it’s substantially less than the 14 million Apple had sold in its previous quarter. IPod sales still helped push the company profits and sales up 41% and 34%, respectively, and Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer noted that iPod sales, which now make up more than half of Apple’s sales, were up significantly over the same period last year.”
“But a drop in sales of nearly 40% from the previous holiday quarter seems severe. Apple allowed its product lineup to go slightly stale, for once, as it didn’t launch any innovative new iPod models in the first quarter,” Rosmarin writes. “Have the ubiquitous white machines crested the top of their popularity curve?”
“If the iPod’s bloom is fading, Apple may want to rethink its approach to its iTunes digital music and video store–one of the company’s true winners of the second quarter,” Rosmarin writes. “With more than one billion songs served, Apple’s iTunes store now has nearly 90% of the paid-download music market, according to Nielsen NetRatings. Perhaps soon would be a good time for Apple to consider cashing in further on the store’s success by opening its copy-protected content to other devices, as the French government has suggested in a bill… Some day, the iPod really will wane, and Apple should be ready to capitalize on the next big non-computer thing: maybe an Apple-designed cell phone?”
Full article here.
This is what happens when someone who has little or no understanding of what’s going on with a company gets assigned to write an article about said company. In the plus column, Rosmarin hints that she actually does realize that her premise is a put-on with the line, “Some day, the iPod really will wane…” As in, “iPod sales are not really waning, I’m just yanking your chain.” Newsflash: Apple will sell less iPods in the quarter after Christmas than in the quarter containing Christmas. This will happen for as long as Apple sells iPods.The decline in iPod sales last quarter wasn’t severe, it was seasonal. New iPods are coming, on that you can bank. There are hundreds of millions of iPods left to be sold by Apple. That’s right, hundreds of millions. Also, it’s not time to open FairPlay; you don’t open it until some real competition shows up, if ever. Finally, hope springs eternal (here, too) for an Apple-designed cell phone+iPod. We wouldn’t mind Apple as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), either.
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Related articles:
Apple reports Q2 2006 earnings: $4.36 billion revenue, $0.47 earnings per share – April 19, 2006
Apple to become mobile virtual network operator (MVNO)? – April 19, 2006
I am waiting for the next iPod to be introduced to replace my 3g model (stolen in Jan). Please hurry Apple because I’ve got a road trip in June and I want a new iPod for the ride.
Yeah it really is a shame that they cancelled Marchchristmas this year; that would have really helped the numbers.
Right on, iPodDN!
I agree 100% with your Take. I want my Apple iPhone!
Me too iSteve. I lost my silver iPod mini in my move. I need a replacement but I’m waiting for the next generation before I buy. I want one with a big hard drive this time. 4GB just isn’t enough.
If only he could get 8.5 million readers to read his crap. He needs to rethink himself, what has he done in is life…but write crap.
Mac sales eclipsed iPod sales last Q, which prompts articles like this regardless of actual sales numbers, margins or profit. It was to be expected and – in the long term scheme of things – irrelevant.
iPod penetration is still quite small compared to potential growth. And when the next generation (video) iPod is released, we’ll see quite a bump in numbers.
Remember folks,
This time last year, we didn’t know what a nano was, or for that matter what a video-capable ipod was. How can anyone bet against Apple like this?
Those poor pundits who’ve only been following Apple since the iPod boom haven’t yet learnt to expect the unexpected like we longtime Macheads have. Apple will blow us all away again and again, at future times of its own choosing, once all the pieces are in place. In the meantime, strap yourselves in and prepare to enjoy the ride!
“fewer” ipods, not “less” ipods. less is used for continuous things, or things that are so numerous they can be considered uncountable such as grains of sand. apple has sold a lot of ipods, but not enough to be uncountable.
Ditz!
John said: “If only he could get 8.5 million readers to read his crap.” He is a she.
http://musobs.blogspot.com/
This is the reasons for the slowdown:
1: Economic conditions in the US, post real estate bubble decline, people are not as spendy with their cash due to high mortages, rent and of course gas and oil prices which reflect on everything from food to clothes.
2: Apple has about satisfied the new market for iPods, now it’s slowing down to a more steady amount.
3: Apple has pushed the new iPods as fast as possible and some of us have so many of them because we felt we needed to have the newest toy. We no longer feel the need to have the latest iPod.
4: Some have tried video iPods, but most realize the iPod is mostly good at one thing, playing music.
5: The iTMS Video store has not taken off because studio’s want to charge $20-$30 a movie and iTMS customers don’t want the lousy quality if they are going to pay that sort of money. Also the internet can’t handle transfering billions of HD or even DVD quality films.
6: The iPod fad is decreasing.
All Apple has to do is settle down and keep producing iPods because they have become the industry standard.
What Apple could do to increase iPod sales is create a iPod Dock/Stereo that accesses iTMS directly over a built in DSL modem. This way the computer tech less types can enjoy a iPod.
“Newsflash: Apple will sell less iPods in the quarter after Christmas than in the quarter containing Christmas. This will happen for as long as Apple sells iPods.”
Don’t forget that for the last two years iPod sales have been consistently increasing, totally ignoring the typical holiday drop-off that most companies face. Apple’s iPod is only experiencing this now (and probably will continue to in the future).
If only she could get 8.5 million readers to read her crap. She needs to rethink herself, what has she done in her life…but write crap.
Better?
Apple…
please…
release…
the…
Apple…
iPhone….!
Please!
(Same size as the Nano as well).
You might have inhaled the all new iPod femto and not even realized it. New marketing strategy: invade the bloodstream.
What happens when everybody has an iPod? Remember calculators?
Be nice, John. Rachel Rosmarin’s bloom is fading.
There is such a thing as market saturation. Eventually, that will happen to the iPod. And it may, in fact, already be happening. I, for one, am a big Apple fan, and own a 1G iPod. Despite all of the cool new iPods that have come out, I see no compelling reason to upgrade; mine still plays music just fine. I suspect I’m not the only one who feels this way.
I will, however, buy a new iPod when Apple takes the next big revoluationary step. I have no idea what that is, but it hasn’t happened yet (video on the iPod is neat, but I have no interest in watching TV on that tiny screen). Again, I suspect i’m not alone in feeling this way. Sales of these Apple portables will go up again when they introduce some new type of device, like a phone/iPod combo, or Wifi, etc.
Andrew-
With the exception of #1 which impacts- everything your points are baseless.
Sales are up Yr over Yr and that’s the primary measurement.
Seasonality,
Post Xmas Qtr people are trying to recover from the bills they racked up so spending is generally tighter.
MDN’s take id spot on and this writer is not doing their readers any favors by writing “spook” articles.
S
It is strange for all these years how all of these folks; writers, financial folks or business writes/reporters all just look at Apple as an anomaly. And will fail now. Compete against itself or whatever.
These people DO NOT do this with Dell, Microsoft, IBM etc.. Heck they don’t look at car companies this way either. Is Toyota only competing against its.elf now that it is number one or so large? No.
Really strange.
I am interested in an i-phone.
I was also hoping that this site would provide more user info on ipods, I am a bit late adopting the technology. Do you post new podcast download information on this site?
Wasn’t there something in yesterday’s Q2 report about iTMS reaching new highs in sales? I wouldn’t call that seasonality.
Poor Rachel Rosmarin she has to spend her time directing her passive aggression at Steve Jobs so that she can make a living.
What an utter idiot.
Who is ‘Wall Street’? And, gasp, what, Apple sold fewer iPods in this quarter than last! She is a dumbass Master of the Obvious.
Forbes is running out of stuff to write about. Now, to get attention, this dumbass rag invents an Apple is Losing story.
Bitch, go flip burgers at MacHoles.