The new iMac may be Apple’s crown jewel right now, but the iBook, iPod and Mac OS X aren’t exactly slackers either.
Shipments of the iBook laptop jumped, with shipments and revenue up from those of a year ago. Apple shipped 141,000 iBooks in the just-ended quarter.
“We’re pleased with the results; the iBook is doing well in the channel and, particularly, in the education market,” Apple Chief Financial Officer Fred Anderson said.
About 75,000 iPods sold last quarter, down from 125,000 units in the previous quarter, but in line with seasonal sales, Anderson said. While sales dipped, that’s less of a decline than the MP3 player marketplace overall, he added.
The Mac OS X transition continues to gain ground. Apple has shipped over three million systems loaded with Mac OS X since last May, Anderson said. And since the introduction of Mac OS X 10.1 six months ago, the number of OS X native applications has more than doubled, he added.
Unfortunately, the story isn’t as good with Apple’s professional line. Sales were “flat” compared to last quarter. Apple shipped 89,000 PowerBooks and 211,000 Power Macs this quarter.
Anderson feels that the pro systems are moving relatively slowly because of a lack of certain Mac OS X native applications and the slow economy. This week’s release of Adobe Photoshop 7.0 for the Mac OS X also should help sales, but the analysts at A.G. Edwards think that some markets, such as small businesses and advertising/marketing departments, may continue to delay purchasing new machines until the economy improves.
There is one bright area in the pro market: video. Apple has added 75 more VARs (value added resellers), doubling the size of the pro video channels.
“It was a good quarter in the whole video segment with Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro doing well,” Anderson said. “That’s been our primary strength in the professional area.”