New iPods drive QuickTime Pro, AppleCare sales
Apple's new iPod lineup is helping to generate additional revenues through sales of QuickTime Pro and AppleCare extended warranties, according to the company's online store.
$29.99 QuickTime Pro licenses for Mac OS X and Windows were the third and fourth most popular items on the Apple online store "Top Sellers" list on Monday afternoon.
Sales of the professional media software upgrades trailed only the iPod video and iPod nano players themselves, which were listed as the two most popular products, respectively.
The latest version of QuickTime Pro (7.0.3) includes a specialized video export function that allows users to save their video content to be played on the new fifth-generation video iPod's 2.5-inch LCD screen.
Earlier on Monday, Apple announced that it had sold over 1 million videos from its iTunes Music Store at $1.99 a piece. The videos are also designed to be played on the new video iPods.
Meanwhile, concerns over iPod nano and iPod video durability appear to be fueling sales of the company's AppleCare extended warranties, which were listed as the fifth most popular item.
Five other iPod-related products -- including iTunes music cards and nano accessories -- rounded out the top ten. The iPod shuffle was the ninth most popular product, while the most popular Macintosh hardware product was the PowerBook G4 at number sixteen.
According to regulatory filings, sales of Apple software and extended warranties have grown steadily over the past two years. From fiscal year 2003 to 2004, the company's "Software & Other" sales grew 24%, while in fiscal year 2005 the same segment grew 38%.
$29.99 QuickTime Pro licenses for Mac OS X and Windows were the third and fourth most popular items on the Apple online store "Top Sellers" list on Monday afternoon.
Sales of the professional media software upgrades trailed only the iPod video and iPod nano players themselves, which were listed as the two most popular products, respectively.
The latest version of QuickTime Pro (7.0.3) includes a specialized video export function that allows users to save their video content to be played on the new fifth-generation video iPod's 2.5-inch LCD screen.
Earlier on Monday, Apple announced that it had sold over 1 million videos from its iTunes Music Store at $1.99 a piece. The videos are also designed to be played on the new video iPods.
Meanwhile, concerns over iPod nano and iPod video durability appear to be fueling sales of the company's AppleCare extended warranties, which were listed as the fifth most popular item.
Five other iPod-related products -- including iTunes music cards and nano accessories -- rounded out the top ten. The iPod shuffle was the ninth most popular product, while the most popular Macintosh hardware product was the PowerBook G4 at number sixteen.
According to regulatory filings, sales of Apple software and extended warranties have grown steadily over the past two years. From fiscal year 2003 to 2004, the company's "Software & Other" sales grew 24%, while in fiscal year 2005 the same segment grew 38%.
Comments
Originally posted by Kickaha
Sometimes it's almost frightening to watch the pieces fall into place, isn't it?
Yes...the way we access and consume media is about to change the way we design our homes, communicate with family and friends and even dictate our travel. I'm amazed and I expect the next 5 years will be a BIG BANG of convergence.
Apple is creating so many compelling software titles that their revenue from these products could outshine Adobe and even MS if their marketshare continues to grow.
And after the ongoing R&D costs are factored in during development, it's all profit from software titles going forward with little overhead.
Originally posted by bedouin
Heh, I predicted this in a post here a couple weeks ago, though I was scoffed at
Don't worry about it, bedouin. Those are just cheapskates looking for a way to avoid paying for something of value. You're better than them, right?
I had a license for QT6 (two actually: Mac+Win), which came in handy many times. Now it's time to upgrade to QT7, I guess.
Real Player, no matter how much some scorn it, offer both of those features in its free version.
The movement to get Apple to increase its warrantees to the levels that other manufactures often offer is also getting knocked down by the willingness of so many to pay for them.
Originally posted by melgross
I don't mind paying the $30. I've always done so. But some features in it should be free. Full screen viewing video correction for files in MoviePlayer for instance.
Real Player, no matter how much some scorn it, offer both of those features in its free version.
The movement to get Apple to increase its warrantees to the levels that other manufactures often offer is also getting knocked down by the willingness of so many to pay for them.
I totally agree that full-screen playback is a silly pay-for feature. In fact, that and the ability to "Save As" movies from web sites were pretty much the only two features I was looking for. But, I realize that a lot of resources are put into QuickTime, so I don't mind paying a few dollars to support that.
The movement to get Apple to increase its warrantees to the levels that other manufactures often offer is also getting knocked down by the willingness of so many to pay for them.
There's actually another way to look at it. If the development costs of QuickTime begin to be recovered from this new interest in the more advanced features, then Apple may be inclined to expand the list of free features since they'd have nothing to lose from it.
BBEdit is a great example. Bare Bones were obviously making sufficient income from the "pro" version of BBEdit to announce that TextWrangler would be completely free.
If we insist on living out of a "bargain bin", then that's exactly what our life will be like. But, if we choose to honestly pay for things of value, then that value will come back to us 10-fold. Believe it or not, it's the truth.
Originally posted by coolfactor
There's actually another way to look at it. If the development costs of QuickTime begin to be recovered from this new interest in the more advanced features, then Apple may be inclined to expand the list of free features since they'd have nothing to lose from it.
BBEdit is a great example. Bare Bones were obviously making sufficient income from the "pro" version of BBEdit to announce that TextWrangler would be completely free.
If we insist on living out of a "bargain bin", then that's exactly what our life will be like. But, if we choose to honestly pay for things of value, then that value will come back to us 10-fold. Believe it or not, it's the truth.
The developement costs of Quicktime are paid for by the purchase of Apple's computers, iPods, iTunes web site, and software sales of all of the programs that depend upon it.
Quicktime should be thought of as a part of OS developement.
Also, many of the features in "Pro" are unlocked by both freeware and shareware programs, so why charge for them?
I pay for it because I'm able to buy what ever I want, but for many, even the $30 is more than they want to spend.
If Apple added more high end features, they could drop some of the more common ones, and the ones the third parties pull out, and charge for those features without getting so many people upset about another "Apple Tax".
Originally posted by bedouin
Heh, I predicted this in a post here a couple weeks ago, though I was scoffed at
People scoff at a lot of things. For the right price, people will pay for something they know about and is easy to use. "Export to iPod" really can't get much simpler.
Originally posted by JeffDM
People scoff at a lot of things. For the right price, people will pay for something they know about and is easy to use. "Export to iPod" really can't get much simpler.
Right. But should that be a Pro feature? I don't think so. Apple is trying to sell these $300-$400 devices, and to sell content at $2 a pop. The easier it is for people to do their own thing, the more they will sell, and simply because they can, the more they will download and buy.
People shouldn't be told that, for that one feature, they should have to pay another $30.
Any hardware or software that requires features from Pro to work well or to enable features should be given Pro for free.
It comes with FCP, for example.
To tell someone that you can export to iPod (video) easily, is a marketing plus. To then tell those same people that they have to pay another $30 to do so is telling them that the iPod actually will cost them $30 more. Not great.
Originally posted by melgross
The movement to get Apple to increase its warrantees to the levels that other manufactures often offer is also getting knocked down by the willingness of so many to pay for them.
Are their portable audio players that have stock warranties longer than one year?
Originally posted by JeffDM
Are their portable audio players that have stock warranties longer than one year?
I don't know. I'm speaking in gereral. Computers, for example.
Originally posted by melgross
I don't know. I'm speaking in gereral. Computers, for example.
There used to be some computers that had longer warranties, but 1 year is pretty standard now. The only Apple product I can think of that has a substandard stock warranty is the monitors, most seem to have three years vs. one for Apple.
Originally posted by Mr. H
have you seen how many different codecs you can export to with QuickTime pro? It's not to be sniffed at. A significant proportion of the quicktime pro fee goes to paying the licensing fees for supplying the compressors.
Yup, some of those codecs have to be paid for. That's what I mean when I say that there are features in Pro that should be paid for - by those who aren't already paying for them by right in getting a program or piece of hardware that needs those features to work properly.
For everyone else it's different. If all you use is iMovie, but some of what's in Pro helps the program function better, those features from Pro should be free. But if you want codecs that few people using iMovie need, then you should be willing to pay for them.
Originally posted by JeffDM
There used to be some computers that had longer warranties, but 1 year is pretty standard now. The only Apple product I can think of that has a substandard stock warranty is the monitors, most seem to have three years vs. one for Apple.
Certainly with monitors. Many computers that compete with Apple's PM's are comsidered to be pro machines and come with longer warrantees.
Originally posted by melgross
For everyone else it's different. If all you use is iMovie, but some of what's in Pro helps the program function better, those features from Pro should be free. But if you want codecs that few people using iMovie need, then you should be willing to pay for them.
Well, yes, it would be nice if the Pro license could be more granular, and you could pay on a per-codec basis. Also, you would have thought it shouldn't be too hard for Apple to enable the "export to iPod" without enabling any other features. A key to unlock that feature could then be included with the purchase of a full-size iPod, and sold to others for $5.
I agree that having to pay for full-screen is a very bad joke. It's probably the reason that loads of PC users think that QuickTime is crap.
Originally posted by JeffDM
There used to be some computers that had longer warranties, but 1 year is pretty standard now. The only Apple product I can think of that has a substandard stock warranty is the monitors, most seem to have three years vs. one for Apple.
Dell are currently selling their Inspiron 9300 17" laptop for $2,368. That price includes a four year, at home warranty. Apple's 17" PowerBook costs $2,848 with a 3 year, return to base AppleCare warranty.
Dell's offers change all the time, but on the whole, their extended warranties seem to be cheaper and better (at home vs. return-to-base)