Regarding Opening Weekend iPhone Sales and Apple’s Stated Revenue Therefrom

Peter Hosey observes that Apple’s Q3 summary data (PDF) lists 270,000 units sales for “iPhone and Related Products and Services”, but only $5 million in revenue from them.

It’s not clear from the description in the data summary whether that means 270,000 iPhones were sold, but during the conference call, Apple made it clear that that’s exactly what it means. As for why the revenue from those iPhones is just $5 million, that’s because, as stated during their previous earnings call three months ago, Apple is accounting for iPhone revenue and earnings over 24 months, which they believe is required to comply with U.S. accounting regulations while still providing new features in future free software updates. The revenue from an iPhone sold today won’t be fully on the books until 2009.

★ Wednesday, 25 July 2007