Chart: iPod vs. iPhone
It took the iPod 17 quarters to reach 30 million units. The iPhone did it in 10.
iPod quarters date from fiscal Q1 2002; iPhone from Q3 2007. Source: Company reports
Thanks to AAPLinvestors' Terry Gregory for gathering the data from Apple's (AAPL) quarterly reports. You can see his spreadsheet here.
Below the fold: A version of the chart that extends the iPod numbers to the end of fiscal 2009.
UPDATE: Also, per reader request, a chart showing sales per quarter for the first 20 quarters.
Source: Company reports
Source: Company reports
[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]
What fueled the iPod's explosive growth several quarters after its debut was the opening of the iTunes music store. The iPod debited in late 2001 and the iTunes store opened its digital doors several quarters later.
The availability of commercial content for the iPod heightened its appeal and helped create a success story unrivaled this decade until the release of the Apple iPhone.
The opening of the iTunes app store occurred closer to the iPhone's original debut than the iTunes music store opened relative to the release of the original iPod. Further, in some ways at its introduction the first iPods had kind of a split and confusing personality. I remember being at a technology conference for educators in May, 2002 at which the iPod was being pitched by the Apple marketing staff not as a digital music player but as a portable curriculum content device for teachers. I used my original iPod far more as a content storage and backup device than any other purpose.
The iPhone debuted with far more functionality for the user (phone, iPod, Web tool, etc.)while the iPod evolved into a much more functional device over several quarters after its initial release.
I think the link between content availability and hardware sales is unmistakeable. Is it a surprise?
What fueled the rise in sales of Windows PCs in my view wasn't that Windows itself was better than the Mac OS, but it was "good enough" in comparison when the availability of content (software) was taken into account. Developers helped sell Windows in the same way music helped sell the iPod and apps help sell the iPhone today. This is an old enterprise story merely involving new devices.
What's not reflected on the graphs is the sale of the iPod touch which shares an OS and app availability with the iPhone. If one were to add the iPod touch sales numbers to the sales of the iPhone, the magnitude of the success of iPhone OS devices would be amplified even more.
The iPod numbers also include sales of the iPod shuffle which debuted in early 2005. This lower cost, lesser storage capacity iPod sold without a screen and sold in huge numbers. Though an iPod and while it boosted iPod unit sales numbers, it can give a bit of a false read as to growth in sales of more fully equipped iPod models. In my view the graph of only the higher ASP iPods would provide a more economically accurate comparison when contrasting the timelines of success of the iPod and the iPhone. For many (including myself), the shuffle is a second iPod device. We won't see many people carrying around two iPhones.
Two conclusions I draw from the graphs: Commercial content helps drive hardware sales and the early success of the iPhone is unprecedented with most likely much more success to come.
The iphone will indeed rule the world of telcos and the share price of AAPL will rival that of Google's as we go forward.
I will go with iPod Touch anythime instead of iPhone so this way I do not have to put up ATT and their ridiculous pricing plans. The Touch does everything except the phone and some monor diffs like magentometer.
My love of the iPhone has grown on a similar trajectory over time…and so as my anger at ATT given their poor 3G coverage and dropped calls.
Excellent graphs. Ignore those clamoring for more. If ever the writing was on the wall.
Thanks PED, we owe ya.
People who think the iPhone is just a flash in the pan need to take a good hard look at these charts. The iPod has come to dominate the mp3 player market, and the iPhone seems to be on the same trajectory. The difference is that there are several established players in the cell phone market and Apple has to wrangle with various telcos.
Another good comparison chart would be to compare the rate of iTunes downloads to the rate of app store downloads over the course of the first 18 months.
Dr Bill Toth says;
Nice graphs – look great – tell only part of the story.
Where's the dates? The releases in USA vs other countries? Corresponding updates and model upgrades.?
And even after all that it is a Great success story and example of giving consumers the technology they ask for!
Live With Intention,
DrBillToth.com/blog
ex ped: Dates inserted in chart info, per request.
Thanks for the graph, it's really great! However, it could use a bit more info, such as which year and which quarter we're talking about, and when major updates occurred for the iPhone. It would also be useful to break out the types of iPods that are being sold, especially the iPod Touch.
ex ped: The quarters are numbered across the X axis. The iPod quarters date from Dec. 2001, the iPhones from June 2007. Apple doesn't break out the iPod touch numbers.
There doesn't seem to be any solid relationship between sales and stock price. I'm sure Apple is making far more money now than it did in late 2007 and it's share price is only up a few dollars more than it was two years ago. I don't think working out any numbers is going to bring any revelations. Growing revenue only seems to keep boosting Apple's reserve cash which doesn't appear to help Apple's share price very much. Amazon and Google share prices are moving right along with Apple and they don't have nearly as much reserve cash. In fact, Amazon is doing better than Apple over the past year. Anyone here own a Kindle or two?
It appears the economy will continue to hold Apple share price down regardless of how many iPhones they sell this quarter. Apple's growth has come in one of the worst economic times for long investors.
I do not think that adding countries would clarify a lot. The iPod was available in many countries from early on where the iPhone was only available in the US the first 2 quarters, no big deal.
The iPod created a new market almost from bottom up, none or very few hd based mp3 players, it was not until the iPod mini that the sales really took off.
The iPhone entered a mobile market where smart phones had been present for several years and it included and iPod a well-known brand.
Thus i would be more fair to say that the iPod used the first 8 quarters to create a marked.
This would make a more equal comparison and show that the growth rate is very similar although iPod jump at Christmas time where iPhone jump at launch time.
The big question is: will the iPhone continue to grow as fast as the iPod and will the iPod continue at the current level?
Nice graph,But keep in mind that the ipod was only available for Mac-Users, in the first 6 or 7 quarters.
Whereas the iPhone was available for both worlds right from the beginning.
BUT keep in mind that the iPhone was only available in 4 countries for a whole year before it starts selling in more than 60 countries.
As i said, nice graphs, but they tell you nothing.
The Boston Consulting Group has quantified the impact of experience on manufacturing costs. From Wikipedia:
"The Experience Curve illustrates that the more often a task is performed the lower will be the cost of doing it. The task can be the production of any good or service. Each time cumulative volume doubles, value added costs (including administration, marketing, distribution, and manufacturing) fall by a constant and predictable percentage.
There have been 7 cumulate doublings (on a quarterly basis) for the iPhone. Assuming a modest constant percentage of 15%, this means that Apple's manufacturing cost is 32% of what it was in their first quarter of production.
See also Experience curve effects on Wikipedia
Phil what happens if the iPhone controls 70% of the smartphone market just like the iPod? Has anyone you know worked those numbers as it relates to stock price?
The jump every 4 quarters is called christmas. The iPhone will likely have a similar patter but way less pronounced. Unless a lot of people are giving phones as presents.
A third useful line on the graph would be the combined sales of iPhone/iPod Touch, which would show both the size of the TAM and trajectory of the platform for anyone writing apps for the iPhone/iPod Touch platform.
This is not an apples to apples comparison. It looks like it does not take into account the size of the potential marketplace (i.e. countries and size of market in a given country) that the product targets.
It seems to me that the iPod primed the pump for the iPhone.
It would be nice to see the graph as sales per quarter.
ex ped: I've added a sales-per-quarter graph for the first 20 quarters.
is this comparison valid? I should add the number of countries where the product has been selling at the specific point in time.
Interestingly on the bottom most graphic, you can really see the 4 in a row quarters, and when the refresh is, the line jumps up a bit more and then repeats.
On teh iPod vs iPhone graph, the iPhone and iPod Nano have similar gradients of their lines – similar cumalative sales rates. Not forgetting that the Touch, the iPhone *are* iPods…
Stayed awake all night and made it at Walmart, 5am on Bfday. Bought the new ipod touch 8Gb for $199 and received $50 gift card to purchase i-tunes; A gift for dear one longing for ipod tou ch! Apple and AT&T has been so harsh on customer's with this absolute monopoly like situation where it is mandatory for a two year contract. The price without contract is too high as well. I would never buy an iphone!! It's just not so economical. I will have to agree with many others when it comes to ATT network. Although use of optimized mobile web- browsers, enhanced buffer and processing can give good user experience for iphone users, AT&T's data network is yet to support pleasent browsing experience for users, the RAN network definitely needs upgrade and capacity increase and more foot print to allow a certain GBR for each data user. Ipod touch is possibly a better buy when compared to iphone.