Macworld - USA (2019-10-B)

OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 9

2004: RISE OF THE iPOD
2004 was an inflection point for Apple.
After the introduction of the iPod in late
2001, sales built slowly...until late 2004,
when they shot up like a rocket. The fourth
financial quarter of 2004 is actually the
moment before the iPod rocket exploded.
It is, in fact, the last quarter in which the
Mac was the majority of Apple’s business.
(That’s right—the Mac has been a minority
component of Apple’s overall revenue for
15 years.)
The revenue mix in late 2004 was 52
percent Mac, 23 percent iPod, and 25
percent other products. In the fourth
quarter of 2002, Apple sold 836,
Macs, more than it was selling five years
earlier. But it also sold two million iPods, a
number that would double in the next year.

Apple was growing overall, too. The

growth in iPod sales meant that Apple

generated $2.35 billion in revenue—but

only $106 million in profit. Apple’s

explosion in profit growth was to lag

behind its explosion in revenue growth, at

least a little bit.

2009: THE iPHONE TAKES OFF

In 2009, the Mac was doing better than

five years earlier, and by a lot—Apple

sold 2.6 million Macs in the fourth

quarter of 2009, three times the number

it sold during that quarter five years

earlier. And yet, for all the Mac’s success

it had shrunk to only 29 percent of

Apple’s overall revenue.

This was an era driven by exploding

iPhone growth and still-strong iPod sales.

Apple Q4 2004

REVENUE BY CATEGORY

25%

OTHER

52%

MAC

23%

IPOD

Apple Q4 2009

REVENUE BY CATEGORY

20%

OTHER

29%

MAC

38%

iPHONE

13%

iPOD