Apple thinks of itself as a mobile device company. In January at the iPad launch event, Steve Jobs noted that “Apple is the largest mobile devices company in the world now.” And responding to a direct question today at a Goldman Sachs conference, liveblogged by the WSJ, COO Tim Cook reiterated: “Yes, you should definitely look at Apple as a mobile-device company.”
Cook also pointed out that the majority of Apple’s revenues now comes from mobile devices (including laptops) or content for those devices. Indeed, if you look at the breakdown of Apple’s fourth quarter revenues of $15.7 billion, nearly $12 billion of that came from portable Macbooks ($2.8 billion), iPods ($3.4 billion) and iPhones $5.6 billion). And another $1.2 billion came from iTunes.
Apple isn’t abandoning computers. It is a mobile device company because computing is going mobile. What about things like Apple TV? “Apple TV is a hobby,” Cook says dismissively, echoing another sentiment Jobs has expressed before. Nevertheless, the company sold 35 percent more Apple TVs last quarter than the year before and continues to invest in the opportunity.
For more on what Cook said today, read the liveblog notes from the WSJ or the Business Insider.
