Apple announced Monday revenues of more than $15 billion for the December quarter, the company’s first fiscal quarter of 2010. while traditionally the biggest quarter of the year (as illustrated in the graph below), Apple CEO Steve Jobs noted in a statement that, “If you annualize our quarterly revenue, it’s surprising that Apple is now a $50+ billion company.”
The chart below shows revenue for each quarter going back to Q1 of 2203. (Numbers for 2007 and 2008 include Apple’s new accounting principles that account for iPhone and Apple TV sales at the time of sale, and not annualized over a two year period as used to be required.)
Apple’s revenue from Q1 2003 to Q1 2010
Apple’s biggest revenue generator is the company’s line of Macintosh personal computers. Though Apple sales more iPods and iPhones than Macs, the substantially higher average selling price of the computer line results in the Mac being the biggest product for the company in terms of revenue.
Apple’s Mac Unit Sales from Q1 2005 to Q1 2010
The iPod has also long been a shining star for Apple, and even though many have expected iPod sales to decline as the product line matures and the iPhone cannibalizes sales, the digital media device has proven remarkably resilient.
The sharp spikes every four quarters are for the December quarter, when Apple sells many more iPods to people giving them as gifts for the holidays. Sales during the December quarter of 2010 came in at 21 million units, down 8% from the year-ago (record) quarter.
iPod Unit Sales from Q1 2004 to Q1 2010
The iPhone is Apple’s newest success story, though one with a much less linear growth rate than the three graphs above show. Apple just turned in a record iPhone quarter of 8.7 million units sold during the December quarter of 2010, representing 100% growth from Q1 of 2009, but it’s less than 25% above the September quarter of 2008 when the iPhone 3G first shipped.
Still, the iPhone represents a large revenue stream for Apple, and one with a larger ASP than the iPod line.
iPhone Unit Sales from Q3 2007 to Q1 2010
John Martellaro and Jeff Gamet contributed to this article.