Two years ago, Apple had two businesses : Mac (computers) and Media (iPods + iTunes). Fifteen months ago, they added a third business : the phone. Fifteen months is not a long time, but we have seen the Apple iPhone exceed expectations in many ways. In their latest earnings call, Apple announced yet another record quarter: Macs up 28%, iPod up 8% in terms of units shipped. And yet, the runaway success is the iPhone, which generated almost 40% of Apple’s entire revenue for the quarter.

Remember the much-ballyhooed Steve Jobs of 10 million iPhones sold in one year? Apple has sold a whopping thirteen million of them, more than half in the past 3 months alone. Even more good news : Apple has surpassed the smartphone market leader, RIM. RIM shipped 6.1 million phones last quarter, compared to 6.9 by Apple.

The next two quarters are quite critical to Apple. One, the final quarter of the year is traditionally strong, with holiday sales boosting figures. Two, businesses (which RIM serve, and Apple hopes to serve) typically replace their phones and computers at the end or the beginning of the year. With the US still feeling panicky over the financial crisis, the next six months could go either way for Apple. However, the company itself is very healthy, with over $25 billion in cash.

I’m sure Apple will be fine. I’m more worried about Palm at this point; it will be introducing new smartphones against a depressed market, in a highly competitive field.

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Filed under: Mobile News • iPhone

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