In the video, we look firstly at the way Apple describes its business. The iPhone is the most important product. We look at the trend in distribution between Apple direct revenues and non direct revenues which is shown in the chart. Apple’s share of revenues through its own channel has increased. This could be the growth of services relative to total revenue or more sales through its own retail outlets and online, something we can investigate. Own channel sales are likely to be higher margin than using third party distribution.

In the video, I highlight that Apple’s year may have varying lengths. I then downloaded from my system the year ends and quarter ends so that I could mark any unusual years and quarters. If you are a private investor and don’t have such a system (note that there are some good free tools available), it’s important to check when you are looking at growth rates.

The years with an extra week are clear:

According to Sentieo, the quarter lengths are identical as can be seen in the table: