In its latest update on the App Store Apple reported that iOS developers earned $26.5 billion in 2017. A year ago the figure was $20 billion. The growth rate is then about 33%. The cumulative payments to developers can be calculated as $86.5 billion. This amount was generated in a span of less than 10 years, with … Continue reading “The iOS Economy, Updated”
The pattern of Mac growth exceeding Windows PC growth (and overall PC growth which includes the Mac) is old news. It has been observed for at least 40 of the last 42 quarters. It’s a historically interesting contest, but the story of computing has moved on. Starting with building computing, via floor computing, office computing and then to … Continue reading “iOS v. Windows and Immunity to Disruption”
Of the $42.5 billion Apple spend buying capital assets1 more than half was acquired in the last three years. Net of depreciation these assets are currently worth $20.1 billion and the spending rate is about $12 billion per year. This strategy of spending on capital assets is primarily in support of its particularly integrated approach … Continue reading “How many iOS devices will Apple Ship in the next six months?”
Last August I wrote: It’s therefore reasonable to assume that calendar 2014 will see at least 250 million iOS devices sold The actual figure was 259.5 million. Looking ahead, the capital spending pattern so far shows a distinct rise heading into Q1. This could be partly due to the new campus, the new Watch production … Continue reading “How many iOS devices did/will Apple ship?”
12 months ago I asked How many iOS devices will be produced in the next 12 months? Based on the analysis of Capital Expenditures (as forecast by Apple in their annual 10K report) I concluded “iOS unit shipments should be between 250 million and 285 million.” The answer turned out to be 247 million.1 Including Apple TV the … Continue reading “How many iOS devices will be produced in 2015?”
In October 2013, at the end of its last fiscal quarter, Apple stated: The Company’s capital expenditures were $7.0 billion during 2013, consisting of $499 million for retail store facilities and $6.5 billion for other capital expenditures, including product tooling and manufacturing process equipment, and other corporate facilities and infrastructure. The Company’s actual cash payments for … Continue reading “Best guess for how many iOS devices will ship in 2014”
iOS unit sales crossed over 700 million units last month. That is a significant milestone but the total number of units in use is likely to be lower. My estimate based on device replacement assumptions is that about 500 million are still in use. The estimated break-down of units sold and in use by device … Continue reading “When will there be one billion iOS devices in use?”
Apple’s capital expenditures for product tooling, manufacturing process equipment, corporate facilities and infrastructure has followed very closely their production of iOS devices. The pattern is shown in the graph below. Note that although reported expenditures did not match forecasts for 2012 and 2013, the differences nearly cancel each other.1 The company’s forecast for fiscal 2014 is … Continue reading “How many iOS devices will be produced in the next 12 months?”
One of the most startling announcements during the WWDC 2013 was iOS in the car. The mockup that was shown seems to indicate the use of the car’s in-dash display as an “external monitor” for an iOS device while control would come from inputs using Siri. The technical details were not released so it’s hard to … Continue reading “Measuring the latest iOS accessory market”
The comScore mobiLens survey for the US ending February 2013 shows continuing rapid expansion of smartphone usage in the US. Even though the 50% penetration threshold was passed seven months earlier, the rate of new smartphone users was second highest ever recorded with over 1 million new-to-smartphones users every week during February. Overall penetration increased … Continue reading “Reasons for iOS outperformance in the US”
