Retail store executives were front-row at the keynote for Macworld Expo 2006, and Steve Jobs also put the segment’s financial results up-front: He began his keynote by saying the stores generated record revenues of $1 billion for the quarter that included the holiday shopping season. The stores hosted a record 26 million visitors during the quarter, Jobs added. It was the first time that Jobs had ever revealed financial results at a Macworld, a week before the company’s formal announcement. In 2004 Apple’s retail operation reported $1 billion in revenues for the year, making it the fastest retail operation in history to so quickly reach that milestone–just over 3 years.
Jobs praised the retail store team, and noted the visitor figure was, “more people than live in any state of our union except California.” He described the stores as, “Just the best place to buy not just a Mac, but one of the best buying experiences in the world.” Only then did Jobs announce Apple’s total revenues of $5.7 billion for the quarter, also a record. “This is one for the record books,” he said. He then showed a photo of the “Gingerbread Men” retail store holiday window display. “There’s a lot for these gingerbread men to be dancing about,” he told the audience, who chuckled in response.
Jobs also noted the speculation over how many iPods were sold during the holiday quarter, which is actually the first quarter of fiscal 2006 for Apple. Analysts had been estimating iPod unit sales at eight, nine or ten million units–”Astronomical,” Jobs said. But then he dropped the big bombshell–Apple sold 14 million iPods during the quarter. Within minutes Apple’s stock began to soar, up $5.84 a share over the next hour before settling back to close at a new high of $80.85. The stock was up another 40 cents in after-hours trading.
The retail figures were substantial jumps when compared to the prevous quarter and the same quarter of 2005. Revenues were up a whopping 51% from the previous quarter, and up 166% compared to the year earlier. Visitor traffic was up 76% from the previous quarter, and up 233% compared to the year earlier. Apple had 135 stores open during the quarter, 11 more than in the previous quarter, and 54 more than in the first fiscal quarter of 2005.
[Steve Jobs at Macworld in front of Regent Street store / photo by mr-gadget.de]
