Apple sells over 400M iOS devices in first half of year
updated 01:43 pm EDT, Wed September 12, 2012
Statistics revealed at iPhone 5 launch event
Apple started its iPhone 5 event today with news that 400 million iOS devices were sold in the first half of this year. CEO Tim Cook announced the sales figures amongst other statistics at the press conference being held in San Francisco, with the positive statistics being offered as evidence "We are in a Post-PC world."
In the second quarter of this year, over 17 million iPads were sold, beating analyst estimates for first quarter sales of 12 million, and is claimed to be more than any PC manufacturer sold of their entire PC line. The tablet has a market share of 68 percent, up from 62 percent for this time last year. Over 94 percent of Fortune 500 companies are said to be testing or deploying iPads, with some creating custom apps for the platform, such as GE, Mayo Clinic, and Ducati.
The App Store recently crossed the 700,000 app milestone, 250,000 of which are specifically made for the iPad. Despite the wide range, 90 percent of apps get downloaded every month, with the average App Store customer using over 100 apps on their device.
Sales of OS X have also been brisk, with the ninth major release of the operating system reaching 7 million upgrades sold, making it the fastest selling version of OS X yet.
After calling the MacBook Pro with Retina display the "best Mac we've ever made," Cook claimed Apple notebooks ranked highest in terms of UK market share for the last three months. The 27 percent market share is due in part to the 15 percent year-on-year growth of Apple notebook sales, outpacing the PC industry's two percent growth for the last six years.
Apple now has 380 stores in 12 countries around the world, collectively receiving 83 million retail visitors in the second quarter alone. It will soon be in 13 countries once the company's first store in Sweden opens on Friday.
