January 16, 2008
MacWorld by the numbers
Apple’s video rentals and the ultra-thin MacBook Air are likely to dominate the headlines out of this year’s MacWorld conference and expo. But new products were not the only juicy tidbits to come out of Steve Jobs’s keynote address. Before he launched into his product marketing pitch, the Apple boss rattled off some interesting new statistics about the iPhone that are worth a second look.
- According to Jobs, Apple has sold 4m iPhones in the 200 days since the handset launched in June - an average of 20,000 iPhones a day. Not bad.
- Jobs said that the 4m figure meant that Apple accounted for about 19 per cent of the smartphone market in the 3rd quarter - the most recent quarter for which there are statistics available. That’s about half the market share of RIM, the Blackberry maker, but nearly as big as the next three competitors combined (Palm, Motorola and Nokia).
With its consumer appeal and lack of support from business ‘push’ email systems like Outlook and Lotus Notes, it is not qute fair to compare the iPhone to business devices like the Blackberry. But it is an impressive performance nonetheless.
Given these statistics, Apple seems better positioned than ever - barring any strong economic headwinds - to meet its goal of selling 10m iPhones by the end of the year.
Apple’s Video Rentals is picking up headlines, but perhaps not as many as it deserves. With all the major studios signed up and a simple low cost rental service that does require a computer, Apple look set to totally dominate video on demand. The deal with all the studios really shows Apple’s power. Clearly they can and will put together a subscription service for audio in the future. Then you could play any CD in the world, and move any music you fancy onto your ipod all for a flat monthly fee (which refuses to play if you cancel the subscription). That’s the dream that will change the music world, and for Apple it solves that pesky competition problem with Amazon as well! All in all Apple look set to dominate both Video and Audio, and very possibly become one of the most powerful companies in the word.
Posted by: W Hooper | January 16th, 2008 at 2:55 pm | Report this commentHi,
I just bought a protective case for my Ipod at target through www.newelectronicdeals.com on Black Friday. I’m glad my I’m Ipod is protected, but it looks stupid the way it currently is.
Apple needs to regulate some of it’s 3rd party providers for elegance and design.
I guess I thought getting it on Black Friday would be a benefit.
K.S.
Posted by: Kofi Simmons | January 16th, 2008 at 4:07 pm | Report this comment