Stop the Noiz

US Market Less Important to Apple's Bottom Line than Ever Before

Frank Fox - 2011.01.07 - Tip Jar

Popularity:

Short link: http://bit.ly/hdu3KP

Apple has been growing at a rapid pace for the last few years (see Apple's Decade of Explosive Growth: 2001 to 2010 for details). For most of that time, the percentage of revenue from international sales has hovered around 40%. Sales in the United States were still the largest sector for Apple.

That changed in 2010. For all four quarters of 2010, international sales contributed between 52% and 58%, surpassing the domestic market. This is effectively a role reversal for these two sectors.

Sales in the US are still important, just not as important as a year ago.

What happened? The answer is a combination of the expansion of Apple Stores overseas and the first-time availability of the iPhone in many countries around the globe. More than half of the new retail locations in 2010 were outside the US. New stores were opened in London, Paris, Shanghai, etc. The iPhone 4 is now sold in 22 countries.

US sales as a percentage of all Apple sales, 2001 to 2010

Apple has the perfect demand channel waiting. Whenever it can't sell more to US consumers, Apple simply offloads its surplus to country after country until it's gone.

Estimating demand has always been difficult for Apple. Now they can safely over estimate slightly and use the rest of the world to absorb the difference. The main problem is getting suppliers to make enough units.

Apple's strategy to make the iPhone a global phone has paid off. The iPad is also a perfect product for the global market. Built to one standard with a little variation for the charging adapter, Apple has perfect global mass market appeal. Translating the iOS into a different language is probably the most expensive part in moving to a new market.

As an American, I find it a little discouraging to see the drop in importance, but I can't fault Apple for a well planned and executed strategy.

Join us on Facebook!, follow us on Twitter, use our Google+ page, or read our RSS news feed

Recent Stop the Noiz Columns

Lion and the End of Bootable OS X Installers, 2012.05.23. Mac OS X Lion is only available as an upgrade from Snow Leopard. Is this the end of bootable installers from Apple?
Who Is the Ebook Villain, Apple or Amazon?, 2012.04.19. Amazon.com wants the right to sell ebooks below cost. Apple wants publishers to guarantee it can retail ebooks at the same price.
5 Reasons the iPad Is Not Killing Off PCs, 2012.04.10. Apple designed the iPad to complement your computer, not replace it, which means the iPad has significant limitations.
More in the Stop the Noiz index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: Unitron Mac512, introduced 1985. Unauthorized Brazilian clone of the Mac 512K.
May 24 in LEM history: 99: Mac sales up, iMac sales down? - 01: Speeding up digital photography - 02: The Internet, research, and plagiarism - 04: NewerTech TiBook battery - Optical mice from Contour - 06: Power Mac today or Intel tomorrow? - 07: G5: Apple's last fling with PowerPC - G3: From 233 MHz to 1.1 GHz
Support Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact

Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2012 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc. unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Low End Mac, LowEndMac, and lowendmac.com are trademarks of Cobweb Publishing Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iPad iPhone, iMac, iPod, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.
Advice is presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Email may be published at our discretion unless marked "not for publication"; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.

Custom Search

Follow Low End Mac on Twitter
Join Low End Mac on Facebook

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Macpokeronline.com will show you how to download and play Poker on a Mac natively on your Mac in just minutes.

Affiliates

Amazon.com
The iTunes Store
PC Connection Express
Parallels Desktop for Mac
eBay