We’ve already heard a lot about how Apple’s fiscal year 2011 went. Among a few other things, it was revealed that China has become the company’s second-largest market after the U.S., and that iPhone sales slumped by about 3 million in Apple’s fiscal fourth quarter, which resulted in Samsung becoming the leading smartphone seller in the world.
More numbers are now coming to light, thanks to a document snagged by Apple Insider. The document, a 10-K form filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, shows a little more exactly the way Apple’s numbers moved in 2011.
According to the document (and a PCWorld story), Apple sold 32.39 million iPads for the year, as well as 72.29 million iPhones and 42.62 million iPod Touches, all of which use Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS. The iPhone alone accounted for about 40 percent of Apple’s net sales. It generated $47 billion, while the iPad brought in $20.36 billion, a 311 percent increase over its performance in fiscal 2010.
The form also shows that Apple hired a whole lot more employees during fiscal 2011, mostly to staff Apple Stores. Employees increased from 49,400 in fiscal 2010 to 60,400 in 2011. Better than half of those, about 36,000, work in Apple’s retail outlets, which it has been opening in lots more locations this year. Among the most notable is the location in Hong Kong, which saw huge sales on its first day open and is indicative of the kind of growth Apple has been seeing in the China region.
Also revealed by the form are Apple’s huge cash reserves: $81.6 billion in reserves as well as other investments. During the course of the year, its overall spending increased to $10 billion in 2011, a 37 percent increase over 2010’s $7.3 billion. Of that money, $933 million was spent on advertising.
Among the new totals, Apple reported at the end of the last quarter that China was responsible for 12 percent of the company’s total revenue for fiscal 2011 at $28.7 billion. One Morgan Stanley analyst suspects that China could potentially surpass the U.S. as Apple’s largest market, and a survey of more than 2,000 respondents found that 34 percent would choose an iPhone as their next smartphone. The next nearest competitor was Nokia with 16 percent.
Clearly, 2011 was a big year for Apple and helped the company to set records along the way. It struggled in the last quarter because instead of buying the iPhone 4, many customers were waiting for the iPhone 4S. But already the latest iPhone seems to have set sales records, and with new devices on the horizon, it seems likely that Apple will be able to keep its momentum high throughout 2012.
