The quarterly numbers are in for Apple. And once again they’re very good. It was another non-holiday record quarter in terms of revenues and earnings. But the real number that jumps off the page is the iPhone sales. Let’s just say it: The iPhone looks well on its way to being Apple’s primary business.
Last quarter, Apple sold 5.2 million iPhones. That’s a colossal 626 percent growth over the year ago period, when Apple sold 717,000 iPhones. Now, it’s important to note that the iPhone 3G wasn’t released last year until July, while the new iPhone 3GS dropped in June this year. But still, the difference is huge.
And it nearly was the record for iPhones sold in a quarter, which happened in Q4 last year, with almost 6.9 million iPhones sold thanks to the full brunt of the iPhone 3G sales. Again, these new Q3 2009 numbers only include a few weeks of iPhone 3GS sales.
And the 5.2 million number is perhaps even crazier when you consider that it’s exactly double the number of Macs Apple sold last quarter (2.6 million, a modest rise from basically 2.5 million Macs a year ago). And the 5.2 million number means the iPhone is now more than halfway to the sales of the iPod — and its sales are going the wrong way.
Of course, Apple is likely getting ready to drop a new iPod touch in the coming month, which should have a camera. And that will undoubtedly help sales.