Economics Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Making money in a crowded App Store: it's dog eat dog and Spy vs Spy

by Richard Gaywood (Sep 4th, 2012)

On the 25th of July, a shiny iOS remake of the 8-bit classic Spy vs Spy launched on the App Store for $1.99. The next day, the price dropped to $0.99 in a launch sale. On the 30th, it went up briefly, then developer Robots and Pencils announced that "to show our appreciation, we are extending ...

Apple stock soars, market value close to entire retail sector

by Kelly Hodgkins (Mar 14th, 2012)

If you haven't noticed, Apple's stock was soaring today. It closed at US$589.58, another all-time high, and is up +21.48 for the day. As financial analysts pour over these numbers, they are discovering some amazing trivia about this off-the-charts growth. Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty may have ...

Analyst: Apple's sales in China could triple in two years

by Mike Schramm (Nov 3rd, 2010)

Here's more good news for Apple from the Chinese front: Katy Huberty and Mathew Schneider from Morgan Stanley have released a report saying that Apple could make as much as $9 billion from China in the fiscal year of 2012, as opposed to $2.9 billion in the last fiscal year. That kind of growth ...

Apple shifts focus from sales to quality in China

by Mike Schramm (Jan 26th, 2010)

There was quite a bit of discussion from Apple yesterday about their sales in China (you can see that in our liveblog from yesterday afternoon), and AppleInsider points out that Apple is changing priorities over there, from straight up sales to brand quality. Tim Cook said yesterday that Apple ...

App Store Trends: Prices race to the bottom

by Erica Sadun (Sep 26th, 2008)

Last spring, TUAW asked how much you would pay for iPhone software. Well, it looks like $0.99 and $1.99 are the new $39.99 and $49.99 as far as mobile distribution goes. The App Store bucked the trend of high-priced phone software and now is ratcheting those prices down even further. Developers are ...

iPhone versus iPod touch pricing: Say what?

by Erica Sadun (Jun 9th, 2008)

What does it mean when a 16GB 3G iPhone costs about the same as an 8GB iPod touch? Is it the AT&T kickback economics finally coming into reality? Or are we going to see an iPod touch price drop sometime soon? Face it. The iPhone is just a better device than the iPod touch. And if you can get ...

How much is an iTunes download worth?

by Erica Sadun (May 19th, 2008)

How much is an iTunes download worth? About 70 cents, if conventional wisdom is correct. That's the commonly quoted number for the iTunes money that gets passed back to the record labels. And according to the New York Times today, the record labels are angling for more. They argue that broadband ...

Global currency rankings via the iPod Nano

by Michael Rose (Jan 23rd, 2007)

For years, The Economist has monitored the "Big Mac Index" to measure the relative purchasing power of various currencies; it's not an exact measurement but it's an interesting (and moderately nutritious) one. Now, as noted by Marginal Revolution, Australia's Commonwealth Bank has extended the idea ...