Apple iPod sales

Although Apple experienced a decline in Mac sales for the quarter ending in March, iPod sales and App Store purchases continue to grow. The company sold over 11 million iPods, a growth of three percent compared to last year's quarter. The only iPod to launch during the three month period, the iPod shuffle 3G, was released just two weeks before the end of March.

The iPod touch showed particularly impressive performance, with sales that more than doubled year-over-year. "The sum of iPhone plus iPod touch is now about 37 million units," said COO Tim Cook. "It provides an enormous platform for developers to develop on."

Cook also suggested the upcoming iPhone 3.0 SDK will further contribute to the platform's success. "With our recent SDK changes the developers are working on now, I think it just unleashes a whole new level of innovation that keeps Apple years ahead of everyone else," he said.

The company is running a contest that will award a new MacBook Pro, $10,000 iTunes gift card and a 32GB iPod touch to the customer that downloads the 1 billionth app from the App Store. The tally is already past 995 million and the win should be just "hours away." While the first 500 million downloads took six months, the pace has since doubled.

CFO Peter Oppenheimer, referencing NPD numbers, claims the iPod retains a 70-percent market share in the United States. Internationally, he suggests the media players have shown particularly impressive growth in the U.K., France, Germany, Japan, France and China.

by MacNN Staff