Apple Sees Strong Mac Sales, iPhone Sales Drop Sharply

Yesterday (well, CET in any case), Apple posted its financial results for the second quarter of the 2008 fiscal year (which ended 29 March). While sales of Macintosh laptops and desktops soared to ever greater heights, and while sales of the iPod consolidated itself, the news is not so good for the iPhone. And the dodo will have an Apple TV to play with, soon.Within two years, the company has doubled the amount of Macs it has sold. During the second quarter of 2006, they sold 1.1 million Macs, and now, only two years later, they sold 2.3 million Macs in the second quarter. According to Ars, laptop sales saw unit and revenue growth of 61 and 58 percent over Q2 2007, and “more telling, unit and revenue were actually up, 7 and 5 percent respectively, over the last quarter, the holiday quarter.” It makes sense to assume a lot of these are MacBook Airs, confirming my predictions that the MacBook air would sell quite well.

iPod-wise, sales remained flat on the 10 million mark, but revenue was still up in this department. The iPhone, however, is not doing so well. Apple said it would sell 10 million of them in 2008, but during the second quarter of 2008 (the period ending 29 March, so it’s actually the first quarter of the calendar year 2008), Apple sold only 1.7 million iPhones, which is far shorter than the average 2.5 million needed to hit the 10 million mark (and a much sharper drop from the previous quarter’s 2.3 million than expected). According to Ars, the imminence of the 3G iPhone somewhere this summer will only make iPhone sales drop further.

Personally, I believe the iPhone is simply not selling as well in Europe as Apple had in mind. The price cuts all over Europe seem indications that ‘us Europeans’ find the device too expensive, do not like carrier lock-in, or find the monthly plan too expensive – or a combination of any of those factors. However, there are still three quarters left in this calendar year for Apple to hit the 10 million mark, so it’s all to play for.

The Apple TV was not mentioned at all, so it’s getting safer and safer to say it will join the dodo in the land of failed products, despite the recent software upgrade.

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