Annual revenue per iOS user estimated at $150

We all know that Apple's iOS devices are popular. Surveys and analyst predictions place Apple at or near the top in the smartphone, tablet and media player market. That's great for headlines, but what does it mean for Apple's bottom line?

Horace Dediu of Asymco did some fancy figuring and calculated that the annual revenue for each iOS owner is US$150. This is based on 180 million current iOS users with 200 million iOS devices. Given the astronomical growth of the iOS platform, this installed user base could quickly climb to 500 million users, a lofty figure that would provide Apple with $74 billion per year in recurring revenue.

Mac sales are also climbing and could easily reach 100 million active users who generate $24 billion a year in revenue. Combine the Mac users with the iOS users and Apple could pull in a cool $95 billion per year in revenues from OS X and iOS devices alone.

These numbers are a conservative estimate as Dediu does not factor in sales from iTunes, iPods, accessories and software. It also assumes a very generous 3.5 year life span for iOS devices and 5.5 years for Mac hardware.

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Source: http://www.asymco.com/2011/06/30/how-much-is-an-ios-user-wor…

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We all know that Apple's iOS devices are popular. Surveys and analyst predictions place Apple at or near the top in the smartphone,...

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Charlie

Well I have been worrying that my 35 apps on the app store (search for 'Seligman Ventures' if you are interested) are making circa £160 per week... but guess I am one of the lucky ones ;-/

October 07 2011 at 8:18 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Plushzilla

Estimates such as these have many considerations and thus are avail to approximate the cash inflow but it would not be such a good idea to depend on them in the long run.

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July 11 2011 at 4:05 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Cy Starkman

How many people keep an iOS device for more than 2 years, perhaps 1 year. The significant chunk of iOS is iPhone (from what you read), they go for 700+, maybe 500+ to a carrier. That is $250 a year minimum with a swap out after the 2yr contract ends.

iPads will last 3 years tops.

July 01 2011 at 11:49 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Cy Starkman's comment

VanillaSpice

You may be right about the iPhone, but I think you're wrong about iPods Touch and iPads. Those two devices make up a not-insignificant percentage of iOS users and there is no rolling two-year contracts with them. I am still happily rocking a 1st-gen Touch and half of the ones I see in the wild are 1st- or 2nd-gen. They still run the vast majority of apps and of course they remain PMPs par excellence.

iPads will definitely last longer than 3 years (to Apple's annoyance); in fact, if there was one story to come out of the iPad 2 launch it was that your iPad 1 was still perfectly acceptable and indeed still commanded high prices and high demand.

July 04 2011 at 11:25 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply