Apple’s quarterly results visualized
Shortly after Apple reported its record first quarter 2012 results I was searching the web for an interactive chart where I could, well, interact with Apple’s financial data in an easy-to-use way. I found … only one. On asymco’s website there’s a handy Apple Product Data sheet and also a way to visualize the data. But there are a few things I didn’t like about the chart:
- it’s powered by Flash,
- it’s pretty slow when you try to interact with it (see list item #1),
- it only dates back to the year 2006 and
- it could be easier to use and more intuitive.
The chart is powered by the amazing Highcharts JS. If you’re a web developer searching for a dynamic charting tool, this is the one to go. Unfortunately it has some minor bugs regarding specific chart types. I’m sure they will be fixed some time soon (Highcharts has a pretty big community and hardworking developers behind it), but that’s why I can’t use such useful chart types like stacked areas or areas showing the percent of a total yet.
A project in progress
The chart must be seen as a project in progress. I’ll update the site on a monthly basis. This includes adding more data and providing more functions to create a “web application” kind of feeling (e.g. switching chart types or changing time view from quarters to years). I’d really appreciate any feedback regarding the site, so be sure to tweet or mail me if you’ve got something so say or you want something to be improved.
One more thing …
Until now I compiled data from 41 quarters – that’s over a decade – and much of that data isn’t included in the chart yet (see above-mentioned bugs). To not let you wait until I finally can include all data I turned on Numbers and made a few charts. You may find similarities between the charts you’re about to enjoy and the gazillion charts created by asymco. I guess the reason for this is because they also use Numbers for their charts. :-)
I encourage you to use the charts any way you want, just be sure to mention me (all images are licensed under the CC BY 3.0 license). I also made Flickr and Google+ albums.
Apple’s quarterly revenues by product
Apple’s quarterly product unit sales
Apple’s quarterly Mac unit sales
Apple product ASP
iPod year-on-year change
Apple’s cash and marketable securities