Asymco has calculated that if iTunes were a standalone business, it would be ranked 130 in the Fortune 500 list of top U.S. companies after its gross annual revenue grew 34 percent year-on-year to $23.5B. This would put it between Alcoa and Eli Lilly in the rankings, and is almost half of Google’s core search business – not bad for what was originally intended to be a break-even operation …
Growth was driven by increases in revenue from App sales reflecting continued growth in the installed base of iOS devices and the expansion in the number of third-party iOS Apps available. Net sales of digital content, including music, movies, TV shows and books, from the iTunes Store was relatively flat in the first quarter of 2014 compared to the first quarter of 2013.
Asymco also calculated the cost to Apple of making both the Mavericks update and iWork software free …
During the last quarter Apple changed the pricing for iWork and OS X to zero[1]. I estimate the net effect to have been a reduction in revenues from those software titles of about $350 million for the quarter.
Flat revenue from media likely reflects the gradual trend away from downloads in favor of streaming services. Data published at the end of last year by Billboard magazine suggested that music downloads may have peaked in 2012.
Businessweek last year calculated that iPhone as a standalone business would be bigger than Microsoft, Coca-Cola and McDonalds.
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Facebook’s market cap is a joke at 150B. Revenue of 2B last quarter. yearly revenue is not even 1/3 of iTunes yet the market is giving FB a valuation of 1/4 of Apple (not including cash). Twitter’s valuation is even worse. The social media bubble is going to pop. be careful investing in the hype.
Apple’s value will likely collapse long before Facebook. It’s pretty much a given that Apple is a dying company in Wall Street’s eyes. Almost everything Apple has is producing flat revenue and everyone believes it will tip into the negative by next year. The perception that all growth has been sucked out of the company is very, very strong. After all those strong years of growth since the iPod and iPhone, revenue growth has fallen off a cliff and few think it will ever return without Steve Jobs at the pulpit. With Wall Street, perceptions are everything. Only an insane investor puts money into a company with zero or negative growth. Tim Cook gives off the scent of being a loser and so Apple’s value has dropped accordingly.
RBF,
Yes, we all know that Apple is DOOMED, DOOMED I say….. LOL
Its been DOOMED since before the iPod. And ranting with out any proof or other evidence is just ranting.
“It’s pretty much a given that Apple is a dying company in Wall Street’s eyes.” Wall Street is so often wrong vs Apple that it is the joke. and a corrupt one at that. Just saying.
“Only an insane investor puts money into a company with zero or negative growth. ” Carl Ichan has over 4 BILLION in Apple just recently. Yes, every Billionare is totally insane… Just saying.