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100 Million iPods
Posted by
samzenpus
on Mon Apr 09, 2007 04:27 PM
from the that's-a-lot-of-music dept.
from the that's-a-lot-of-music dept.
prelelat writes "I find it somewhat hard to believe but this story over at PC world, indicates that the iPod has sold over 100 million units. It also asks how many are broken and replaced which makes me believe the number may be more accurate."
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Obligatory. (Score:5, Funny)
- CmdrBallmer
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Slow news day.
Re: 15 Units? (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Lame. (Score:4, Funny)
"Sold" probably includes them all (Score:5, Interesting)
Even if there's a 10% warantee number, that still makes for 90M-or-so real sales. That is not too suprising considering how iconic the ipod is and how much Apple have invested in creating that image.
I wonder what Apple's advertising budget is for ipod? It probably gets to be somewhere around a buck per unit.
Re:"Sold" probably includes them all (Score:5, Insightful)
Many companies run their service centres as a seperate business unit because that's simpler. I don't know if Apple do this, but they might. If they do, then replacement units get sold to the service centres who then charge a service fee back to the ipod business unit. This is a far neater way to handle stock levels etc.
Regardless, I do agree that they have no need to pump up sales numbers. They're doing fine with no embellishment.
Parent
Sooo (Score:4, Insightful)
B) Hard to believe? The company is making a statement of fact flat out, and just not including the caveats such as replacement or upgrade purchases.
Slow. News. Day.
Oh, and the actual article (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Moreover, I wonder how many of us replaced and upgraded our various cassette or CD players. I've easily owned 4 or 5 walkmen and several diskmen, and countless car and home players. It's not like Sony's sales numbers were grounded on devices that no one replaced. Overtime those product lines gained new features, grew smaller / lighter, needed fewer batteries, adopted new form factors, etc. Moreover, like large iPods, they were devices that had movable parts and crapped out from time to time.
There is
A bit of perspective (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
A bit of perspective coming your way too. Not all of those 300 million own any music player. A sizable chunk of them are kids below 4, or old people living in remote villages that have never worked on a computer, let alone know how to work with a digital music player.
So wh
Re:A bit of perspective (Score:4, Insightful)
I've been gifted a Shuffle, and I've gifted iPod nanos to two people. And I'd bought a regular iPod which I later sold.
So, technically, I purchased 4 iPods according to Apple. There you go, skewing of stats, right there.
Huh? No, according to Apple, based on what you've said, you've purchased 3 (someone else purchased one and gifted it to you, but there's no way they'd know that it ended up in your hands, so by their count, you've only purchased three, because in fact, you've only purchased three). And how does the fact that you purchased three iPods skew the stats about the number of iPods sold? You purchased three, they count that has having sold three. 3 != 3?
Parent
Re:A bit more (Score:4, Interesting)
Are you serious?
Let's say the iPod was released in 2001. They've sold 100 million units. But if, as you claim, 50+ million are in stores/warehouses, that means they've sold about 50 million in the 6 years since release.
Apple refresh the iPod lines every 1 or 2 years. This means the sales life-span of a model is 2 years max.
So your argument is that Apple keep SIX YEARS' worth of stock in the supply chain? And that of that stock, 4 years' worth, or about 33 MILLION will never be sold, because a new replacement model will be out by then?
Well, you've convinced me.
Parent
The value of good user interface design... (Score:4, Interesting)
I Don't Love You (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:The value of good user interface design... (Score:5, Insightful)
People love to naysay the dominant market player, which is ironically the one getting trounced in the OS realm. I really do hope their new agreement for higher quality music takes off. I'm going to soon buy a permanent dock to dock my iPod with my high-end home audio system. So the new format will be greatly appreciated and I don't mind paying a few extra $$ for a high-def quality rip of Dark Side of the Moon.
Parent
Re:The value of good user interface design... (Score:5, Insightful)
Why dont you pay $10 for the CD and make a lossless rip of it using, say, Apple Lossless for use on your stereo? And then have a 192kbps VBR AAC rip for your iPod when its on the go and you care about quantity rather than too much quality? All without DRM.
Parent
Re:The value of good user interface design... (Score:4, Informative)
That's not quite true. http://www.1418hell.com/ [1418hell.com] (Now offline due to bandwidth restrictions). Here's the apple docs on it (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=3
I've also had major problems with Apple Firmware updates on my 60 gb 5G ipod. After updating firmware, I regularly find that Apple has dropped support for a specific video resolution or bit rate (the iPod is ridiculously temperamental with video support), which means half of the videos on my iPod don't work.
Now I don't ever upgrade my firmware; I'm really not missing out on much I guess.
Parent
Microsoft can be dethroned (Score:5, Insightful)
This is the reason that Microsoft can be dethroned--when you have good design, you can beat the giants. When you have shitty design and you are a giant, your product doesn't sell (Zune, case in point).
This is why Apple is sending shivers through the phone industry with the iPhone.
I predict that 2008 will be the year of actually easy to use phones, because of the well-designed competition by the iPhone.
Thank you Apple for raising the bar.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
the reason the iPod succeeded in the marketplace is the tight integration of hardware and software
AKA vendor lock-in. All hail the Apple monoculture!
What you call a "vendor lock-in" I call "It just works(TM)".
Also, at the risk of starting a flame war, dare I mention that Windows is the greatest lock-in of all? Business use it because initial cost is cheap, thus causing many home users to be "required" to buy a windows machine so they can work at home.
I see it almost daily. Somebody wants to buy a computer, and they tell me they've always loved the Macintosh (and many were former Mac owners) but that they had to leave the platform so that they cou
Why so hard to believe? (Score:4, Insightful)
Apple has done extraordinarily well here with the iPod and is poised to shape the future of digital downloads (software and media) with their iTunes Store.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I've had 4 non-iPod MP3 players and my failure rate was 100%. All four of them broke -- most shortly after their 90 day warrantee. Two of them were gifts to other people and I feel bad for not buying them iPods now. One was a Creative and the other three were off-brand.
Since then, I learned my lesson. I've bought an iPod Shuffle and more recently an iPod Nano. Both work just fine and the Shuffle is about 2.5 yea
Probably at least 5M units broken... (Score:4, Interesting)
Of course, the real question is whether or not the proportion of lost/broken/damaged/stolen/etc iPods is similar to other devices. After all, do iPods really have a higher failure rate, or is it because there's more of them, you hear more about them?
(And before you start blaming the non-replacable battery - there are few devices other than cellphones, cameras and laptops where having a replacable battery actually is useful - it's likely by the time you need a replacement, the battery isn't even made anymore... Can you get replacement Li-Ion batteries for the many HPaq PDAs out there other than the current model/phone models? Or the multitude of 'superior' mp3 players of at least a couple years vintage?)
Their questions are totally irrelevant... (Score:4, Insightful)
Hmm (Score:5, Interesting)
1 song = 4E6 bytes
Total songs = 2E18 bytes / 4E6 bytes = 5E11 songs
1 song via ITMS = $1
Total cost to fill all ipods = 500 000 000 000 dollars
GDP of New Zealand = 108 520 000 000
Thus, it would take 5E11/1.08E11 = 4.62 years worth of New Zealand's national product to fill all ipods with music.
Wow! That is a lot of music!
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Find it hard to believe? (Score:3, Insightful)
The guy that wrote the article sounds extremely bitter... did he design the Zune or something? Waaa waaa how many of those replaced old ipods or were stolen? WHO CARES? The press release is for ipods sold, not ipods currently in use. 100 million sold is amazing, no matter how you slice it.
Not sure why it's so hard to believe. (Score:5, Informative)
Anecdotally, I have gone through three ipods... a 3G which I carelessly dropped on concrete from about 5 feet, and a 5G which replaced the broken 3G, which I use every day. I was also given a nano as a gift, and I use that at the gym, so I don't have to worry about dropping the 5G. Looking around at the gym, I would also estimate 30% or so of the people in my line of sight at any time there are plugged into a nano or shuffle; In addition, ipods are a very common sight on desks during the day at work, too.
I don't think 100 million ipods sold to date is a particularly unbelievable number. If they told me there were 100 million ipods sold, and they're all still alive "in the wild," that would be pretty hard to swallow.
It doesn't matter how many were replaced. (Score:3, Insightful)
Apple profits from selling the hardware, not from the active userbase, in fact, they benefit from smaller userbase (less loss/load on iTunes) that refreshes its hardware often.
Even if it was one single crazy guy, who bought 100 million iPods, Apple doesn't give a damn.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
That's an impressive feat (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:That's an impressive feat (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Perspective (Score:5, Insightful)
Nintendo DS: 39.8 million (total sales)
Gameboy: 69 Million (total sales)
Gameboy Advance: 77 million (total sales)
iPod: 100 million (total sales)
Cellphones: 2,000 million (currently in use)
I think I have a better understanding of why they built the iPhone...
Why is everyone so surprised? (Score:3, Insightful)
My wife and I have 5 between us... (Score:3, Interesting)
iPod - 40GB (3/4th gen?)
iPod Mini (1st gen)
iPod Nano (2nd gen)
iPod Shuffle (1st gen)
iPod Shuffle (2nd gen)
I've been tempted to get the 5.5gen iPod, but I think I'll wait for widescreen.
Slashdot editors need to get over their iPod hate (Score:3, Insightful)
Given that 80 million iPods have been sold in the last two years - wait, Apple said they had sold 10m in early 2005 - so 90 million iPods in the last two years, I'd guess that the vast majority of them are in use (i.e., they work and aren't under the sofa missing) still (even if they were stolen!).
My iPod nano is 20 months old and I use it all the time still.
I bet that over time less than 10 million iPods sold were due to a previous iPod breaking and being out of warranty. Probably less than 5 million. Likely less than 2 million. Apple will sell than many in a couple of weeks, so it's a rather pointless argument anyway.
Anyway, why doesn't this thinking apply to other manufacturers? Sony - 120m or so PS2s for example. Sold == Sold in anybody's book.
Coincidence (Score:5, Funny)
That's a coincidence, I found mine on an Air France flight!
5 were purchased by my household (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Comma chameleon, come and go, come and go (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
It's a common (NPI) source of comedy:
-- 1x04 "Waiting for God"
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Comma problems? (Score:4, Funny)
Well, now I know how to obfusticate any sensitive documentation. Just insert commas where they don't belong and a certain proportion of slashdot readers will waste valuable brain cycles attempting to decipher it. Whereas my loyal minions, having simpler brains, will ignore any and all punctuation marks and will implement my open source doomsday devices first.
Parent
Re:But What About... (Score:4, Funny)
I have a dream that my iPods will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their case but by the content of their hard drive.
Let music ring.
Parent
Why dump something growing 30% a year? (Score:3, Interesting)
Especially seeing how a little less than half of their profits each year stem from the Mac. Dumping the Mac would almost automatically require them to dump half their workforce, more or less.
Continued sales (Score:3, Insightful)
Since the Zune has had a rough time unseating the iPod, we can assume the case is much more of the former than the latter.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Why do you Apple fanbois constantly make this incorrect assumption that anyone who is anti-Apple is automatically pro-Microsoft?
Personally, I wouldn't be seen dead owning an iPod or a Zune. I have a 2GB £20 (=$35) music player that:
1. Mounts as a USB drive I can read/write files to in both Linux and Windows.
2. Supports MP3 and Ogg - the only two music formats of any importance.
3. Nobody is going to mug me for
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I have bought FOUR 30 gig video ipods in the pat 15 months. Two for Xmas 2006 (gifts); one for myself in the fall of 2006 and still one more for Xmas 2006 (gift).
Now, I'm just one guy. But that's a whole lot of buying from just one guy. And while I'm different - I'm not *that* different. The number of white ear buds on the TTC when I take the bus or subway says to me: 100 million world wide? Entirely possible.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Sold. But to whom? (Score:4, Informative)
The rules are roughly: Apple can count an item as sold as soon as it leaves the company, AND Apple can be quite sure that the buyer will pay for it. If Walmart buys 100,000 iPods and has a contract that they have to pay for them no matter whether they sell them to end users or not, then Apple can count them as sold (even if Walmart can't shift them. Apple _has_ sold them). If Walmart buys 100,000 iPods and has a contract that they have to pay for those that they sell on to end users, and can return the others at any time, then Apple can count those as sold that Walmart has sold on.
If Apple sells 100,000 iPods to a seller that signed a contract that forces them to pay, but that seller goes bankrupt and Apple doesn't get the money, and doesn't get the iPods back, then I believe they can be counted as sold, and Apple's loss from bad debt is counted somewhere else in the books. I haven't heard of any such case.
Parent