Some insight is emerging as to what Apple product (hardware, software, or media) is earning the most bucks. Turns out, at the core of success for the Cupertino, Calif. company might be software. Earlier this week, Apple announced its iOS-powered triumvirate — iPhone, iPad and iPod touch — comprised 65 percent of the $17.3 billion in the last-quarter revenue.
Additionally, sale of Mac OSX products accounted for 20 percent of all sales. Combine those two with sales of the Mac OSX software and the various App Store products and 90 percent of Apple revenue is coming from software, according to analyst Horace Dediu of Asymco.
“That speaks volumes not only for the importance of software to Apple but for the cohesion of an extensible, flexible architecture that allows it to inhabit a portfolio spanning from a music player and an enterprise server,” the analyst wrote Friday in a blog post.
So, to answer the initial question: is Apple a software, hardware or media company? The iPhone, iPad, iPod, iOS, Mac OSX maker is all three, Dediu says.
