“Apple announced that the total number of iTunes account[s] (with credit cards attached) has reached 400 million,” Horace Deidu reports for Asymco. “This was touted as being the largest collection of credit card accounts for any retailer and I have no reason to doubt it. However, looking beyond the bragging rights, there are more interesting patterns to observe about this asset.”
“The combined total iPhones + iPads have overtaken cumulative total iPods. The iPhone started in Mid ’07, more than five years after the first iPod shipped. The acceleration in that product line is still evident while the iPod decelerates gracefully,” Deidu reports. “The total device count has reached 680 million in the last decade.”
Deidu reports, “Tf we assume that account holders typically use one device then by taking the difference between devices sold to date and accounts at that point in time we should know how many devices have been retired.”
More info and the usual excellent charts in the full article here.
That is not an accurate measurement, as it does not take into consideration all of the people who share the same iTunes account.
Nor does it account for those who have numerous devices and 1 iTunes account. I have 2 iPods, an iPhone, iPad and a Mac on my singular iTunes account. 5 devices, 0 retirement. How would that skew these numbers?
my wife and i have two iPads, two active iPhones, an iPod touch, and i use my old iPhone as an iPod touch. plus we have two macbook pros and a mac mini. they are all being used. she has an iTunes account and (unfortunately) i have two of them.
Very True
Mac Pro
MacBook (AL) not Pro 13″
iPad 3
iPhone 4
Apple TV (160GB HD)
Mac Mini Server (in the LR)
All on one iTunes account.
Have 8 devices on one account.
Deidu reports, “If we assume that account holders typically use one device then… ”
Rubbish.
And what about the computers? Macs are attached to the accounts too.
As far as I know, Apple devices, whether iPhones, iPads, or iPods never get retired for good. If they’re still in working condition they get handed down to someone near and dear. Otherwise if you’re a penny pinching poor bastard like me, you put them on sale on eBay and hope that they find a good owner, which usually is the case because Apple owners care for their devices.
I would imagine that the iTunes store accounts are used to download apps and podcasts for the iDevices, even if they’re free, as there’s no way of accessing the iTunes store without creating an account first.
I started out my iPhone journey paying for productivity apps, then bought a couple of songs on iTunes music store and then progressed to other paid apps. The 99¢ app ecosystem really encourages you to buy apps as they’re affordable.
my sister gave her original iPad to a friend and bought a new one (the second generation one). since then her friend has given the original to someone else and bought a new one (the third generation). three former windows users now only using mac equipment. i had a mac se once, upgraded to an se 30, and finally gave it away (external monitor, printer, removable drives et al.) in 1996 and it was still used for several years after that by a nonprofit organization. mac stuff lasts forever most of the time and someone can always find a use for it.
Most people who have iPhones and/or iPads don’t really need iPods as these functions are already built in.
I leave my iPods plugged into my vehicles and update them sporadically. Then I don’t have to pay for a Bluetooth adaptor for my radios or unplug my iPhone to answer or make a call, or utilize any of the other functions.
Exactly. My 2nd, 3rd and 4th gen iPod touch have all been repurposed to our cars.
You have three cars? Wow!
For developers, the actual number of iTunes accounts with credit cards is likely more meaningful than the total number of iOS devices. While it is likely that multiple devices on a single iTunes account may drive a few more sales than if only one device were on the account (apps for large screen, apps for small screen), each app is purchased only once and then delivered to all linked devices. In other words, a family of five with five iOS devices will only pay for one single copy of Angry Birds…
But it does grow. As the kids grow and want “privacy” or just have legitimate needs of their own, they set up a free account and start applying gift cards and funds to it and so on, and the favorite apps get purchased again because the ecosystem makes it difficult to maintain purchases under multiple iTunes accounts on the same system/device.
I think it’s all kind of moot when you’re talking 400M accounts 🙂
I don’t understand how the math works or how it relates to reality. My wife and I share an apple if and have, between us, five iPod shuffles, five hard drive iPods, two iPads, two nanos, an iPod touch, two intel iMacs, three lampshade iMacs, a MacBook pro, and a PowerBook. And a g5 tower. One sister in law has a nano I gave her, the other had a mini I have her. About the only retirements we’ve had is a 3rd generation iPod that died, a shuffle that died, and a dead fatboy nano, and the mini my sister in law left on a plane. For all I know one of the plane clean up staff is still using the mini….
I have an iTunes account, but I don’y have a valid CC associated to it. I took it out & just use an iTunes gift card, so does this count?
Unfortunately, when MobileMe gets shuttered in 2 weeks sp basic functionality will be lost.
However, there is a movement to save some of the soon-to-be-lost features. Check out this link. Just use in the poll to register your vote.
— http://savemefeatures.wordpress.com/
How is this related to the subject at hand???
This whole exercise starts on a wrong premise. I thought PC users also have access to iTunes accounts…
Regardless, in my experience Apple products have a longer life cycle than their competitors.