Following Apple’s announcement of record earnings and revenue yesterday, the company held its quarterly conference call with press and analysts. Below are the highlights pertaining to Apple’s music business, which accounted for 59% of the quarter’s total revenue.
– The iTunes Music Store had an 83% share of the US market of legally downloaded music during the month of December.
– There are now over 2,000 different iPod accessories.
– Apple said it did “very well” in sales of both Apple-branded and third-party accessories. The company sees the accessories as a “recurring revenue stream.”
– The iPod gross margins in the December quarter were above 20%.
– The iPod is now sold at more than 35,000 outlets, although not every retailer sells all iPod models.
– Stock of the 4GB iPod nano is still “lean” in certain areas, following tremendous holiday demand.
– The iTunes Music Store operated “above break even” during the quarter for a slight profit.
– There is more downloadable content on the way for video iPods.
– iPod Radio Remote sales are doing “well.” Apple said it is “currently not meeting demand” for the device, but it is “working really hard” to try to do so.