5 ms·

Apple closes the revenue, income gap with Microsoft to just $1 billion

23 points by miles 17y ago

anujseth 17y ago
What no one seems to talk about is how many billion dollar companies tie into the microsoft stack, I can't think of any on the apple side of things.
piguy314 17y ago
What do you suppose this actually means: In fourth calendar quarter 2009, Apple changed its accounting to accommodate a new rule that lets the company realize most iPhone revenue in the given quarter. Before, Apple had to defer that revenue and recognize it over 24 months. Is this enron-esque calculating future profits that haven't been realized yet? Like say apple receives a cut of 3G subscription plans using the iPhone from AT&T (or a licensing fee of some kind) and counts all 24 months of a 2 year contract before receiving the money? EDIT:Italicized text.
traskjd 17y ago
And if revenues were the most important number, that would matter somewhat. To this day I still don't understand why it seems profit is about the last thing people look at. Maybe that explains a lot actually.
- macrael 17y ago
  In the context of this article Income == Profit. The gap there is "narrowed" to $1B. Still a very large number no matter how you slice it.
  - csmeder 17y ago
    yes, but there is a derivative to think about here. How long before that gap is $1B with Apple on the other side. That is the real news here: the delta not the so much the position.
    - jasonlotito 17y ago
      I don't know. Microsoft had larger growth rates than Apple. http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/04/microsoft_windows_pcs_outpace_macs_in_consumer_market.html http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/04/microsoft_windows_p... "Microsoft said worldwide Windows consumer licenses grew by more than 35 percent in the recent quarter. By comparison, Apple this week reported an increase of 33 percent in Mac sales over roughly the same time period. That was impressive, too, of course, but Microsoft is growing from a significantly larger base of sales to begin with, making its higher growth rate considerably harder to achieve." Which is actually interesting, when you consider when Apple succeeded. It was during a time between XP and Windows 7. Vista got thrashed in the press and between friends (and I like Vista), so you didn't have the upgrade their. So, basically Apple was competing against XP. Of course, this is a simplification of everything, but with Windows 7 doing so well, I think you have a lot of people fine with finally upgrading off their rather old XP machines. Combine that with the economic turn-around, and the fact that people are still money-aware, the lower cost of the upgrade to a Windows 7 machine is very attractive. With what MS has in store with Live Wave 4, I think we can see them finally bringing things together. Couple that with Windows Phone, and Office 2010, there are a lot of interesting things with MS at the moment.
      - evgen 17y ago
        I am not quite sure why everyone is reporting this number as if it were some miraculous revival of MS. Windows 7 doesn't suck. Lots of people have been waiting, and waiting, and waaaaaaaaaaaiting to upgrade from XP. A lot of them gave up hope and moved to Macs; those users aren't going to be coming back. What MS might have done is stop the bleeding in the desktop OS market. It will take a couple more quarters to see if this is the case. I recently ordered 25 upgrades for sales and marketing people in my company and this sort of SMB activity may also make up a large portion of this growth in "consumer" licenses (Vista sucked so bad we were willing to maintain an EOL version of Windows and even "upgrade" boxes to XP that were shipped to us with Vista.) In terms of how this fits into the general economic picture, I am waiting to see evidence of this activity as being an upgrade _to_ a Windows 7 machine vs upgrades of existing computers to a new rev of Windows. If non-Apple PC sales show a similar increase then this claim may be valid, but if Apple growth continues to outpace other hardware vendors you will be seeing evidence that this is more of an upgrade in place than any real growth of the Windows ecosystem. ["Interesting" may be one word to describe Windows Phone (or whatever they are calling it this month) but most reviews and reports do not seem share your belief that it is in any way indicative of MS finally "bringing things together"...]
- cakesy 17y ago
  It is much better to get higher profit on lower revenues.
Tichy 17y ago
Peanuts
Sam_Odio 17y ago
I just had a realization. Apple's actually becoming the next Microsoft. And they're beginning to act the part.
- buster 17y ago
  i don't know if i like this future
  - arch_hunter 17y ago
    I am sure that I do not like this future.
- cakesy 17y ago
  Have apple started screwing over lots of companies yet? (Well, apart from Adobe, and that is debatable) Mac OS is still a great system, sure iPhone/iPad/Touch is quite locked down, but they still have not been acting as bad as Microsoft.
- joubert 17y ago
  In what way?
- melling 17y ago
  Microsoft has 90% desktop market share and 90% office market share. Where does Apple have a monopoly where they can drive the market? A mistake or two and they will have a problem. Look at Nokia or Motorola.
  - electromagnetic 17y ago
    Apple is seriously screwed when it's iPod/Phone/Pad/Moneygrabber2020 becomes uncool. Apple isn't even playing a popularity game, they're playing a coolness game, which is infinitely more dangerous. They'll eventually find themselves as the Fonzie on water skis looking at a shark tank. Microsoft has never been cool, which makes it perfect for corporate business where coolness is treated like an itch in a private place. Until Apple is able to sell itself to big business it is riding a knife-edge trying to stay cool with the college students that change every single year.
philk 17y ago
...and Apple closed the income gap with Exxon Mobil to ~ $3 billion. Not that these comparisons are of any value.

23 points by miles 17y ago

What no one seems to talk about is how many billion dollar companies tie into the microsoft stack, I can't think of any on the apple side of things.

piguy314 17y ago

What do you suppose this actually means: In fourth calendar quarter 2009, Apple changed its accounting to accommodate a new rule that lets the company realize most iPhone revenue in the given quarter. Before, Apple had to defer that revenue and recognize it over 24 months. Is this enron-esque calculating future profits that haven't been realized yet? Like say apple receives a cut of 3G subscription plans using the iPhone from AT&T (or a licensing fee of some kind) and counts all 24 months of a 2 year contract before receiving the money? EDIT:Italicized text.

traskjd 17y ago

And if revenues were the most important number, that would matter somewhat. To this day I still don't understand why it seems profit is about the last thing people look at. Maybe that explains a lot actually.

macrael 17y ago
In the context of this article Income == Profit. The gap there is "narrowed" to $1B. Still a very large number no matter how you slice it.
- csmeder 17y ago
  yes, but there is a derivative to think about here. How long before that gap is $1B with Apple on the other side. That is the real news here: the delta not the so much the position.
  - jasonlotito 17y ago
    I don't know. Microsoft had larger growth rates than Apple. http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/04/microsoft_windows_pcs_outpace_macs_in_consumer_market.html http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/04/microsoft_windows_p... "Microsoft said worldwide Windows consumer licenses grew by more than 35 percent in the recent quarter. By comparison, Apple this week reported an increase of 33 percent in Mac sales over roughly the same time period. That was impressive, too, of course, but Microsoft is growing from a significantly larger base of sales to begin with, making its higher growth rate considerably harder to achieve." Which is actually interesting, when you consider when Apple succeeded. It was during a time between XP and Windows 7. Vista got thrashed in the press and between friends (and I like Vista), so you didn't have the upgrade their. So, basically Apple was competing against XP. Of course, this is a simplification of everything, but with Windows 7 doing so well, I think you have a lot of people fine with finally upgrading off their rather old XP machines. Combine that with the economic turn-around, and the fact that people are still money-aware, the lower cost of the upgrade to a Windows 7 machine is very attractive. With what MS has in store with Live Wave 4, I think we can see them finally bringing things together. Couple that with Windows Phone, and Office 2010, there are a lot of interesting things with MS at the moment.
    - evgen 17y ago
      I am not quite sure why everyone is reporting this number as if it were some miraculous revival of MS. Windows 7 doesn't suck. Lots of people have been waiting, and waiting, and waaaaaaaaaaaiting to upgrade from XP. A lot of them gave up hope and moved to Macs; those users aren't going to be coming back. What MS might have done is stop the bleeding in the desktop OS market. It will take a couple more quarters to see if this is the case. I recently ordered 25 upgrades for sales and marketing people in my company and this sort of SMB activity may also make up a large portion of this growth in "consumer" licenses (Vista sucked so bad we were willing to maintain an EOL version of Windows and even "upgrade" boxes to XP that were shipped to us with Vista.) In terms of how this fits into the general economic picture, I am waiting to see evidence of this activity as being an upgrade _to_ a Windows 7 machine vs upgrades of existing computers to a new rev of Windows. If non-Apple PC sales show a similar increase then this claim may be valid, but if Apple growth continues to outpace other hardware vendors you will be seeing evidence that this is more of an upgrade in place than any real growth of the Windows ecosystem. ["Interesting" may be one word to describe Windows Phone (or whatever they are calling it this month) but most reviews and reports do not seem share your belief that it is in any way indicative of MS finally "bringing things together"...]
cakesy 17y ago
It is much better to get higher profit on lower revenues.

Tichy 17y ago

Peanuts

Sam_Odio 17y ago

I just had a realization. Apple's actually becoming the next Microsoft. And they're beginning to act the part.

buster 17y ago
i don't know if i like this future
- arch_hunter 17y ago
  I am sure that I do not like this future.
cakesy 17y ago
Have apple started screwing over lots of companies yet? (Well, apart from Adobe, and that is debatable) Mac OS is still a great system, sure iPhone/iPad/Touch is quite locked down, but they still have not been acting as bad as Microsoft.
joubert 17y ago
In what way?
melling 17y ago
Microsoft has 90% desktop market share and 90% office market share. Where does Apple have a monopoly where they can drive the market? A mistake or two and they will have a problem. Look at Nokia or Motorola.
- electromagnetic 17y ago
  Apple is seriously screwed when it's iPod/Phone/Pad/Moneygrabber2020 becomes uncool. Apple isn't even playing a popularity game, they're playing a coolness game, which is infinitely more dangerous. They'll eventually find themselves as the Fonzie on water skis looking at a shark tank. Microsoft has never been cool, which makes it perfect for corporate business where coolness is treated like an itch in a private place. Until Apple is able to sell itself to big business it is riding a knife-edge trying to stay cool with the college students that change every single year.

philk 17y ago

...and Apple closed the income gap with Exxon Mobil to ~ $3 billion. Not that these comparisons are of any value.