Apple Growth 3x That of Industry Growth Rate

I knew I should have bought Apple stock a few years ago!

Apple posted its 2007 Q2 financial results Wednesday, far exceeding even optimistic analysts' expectations and pushing its shares over $100 for the first time. Earnings grew a whopping 88% year-over-year, and Apple reported a sales growth of 36% in the second quarter (more than three times that of the industry growth rate of 11% for personal computer sales in Q2).

Obviously, strong iPod sales contributed to Apple's success in Q2, but I was interested to note that Mac sales accounted for 56% of revenue (1.5 million computers sold in Q2--36% growth) and music-related sales accounted for 44% (10.5 million iPods sold in Q2--24% growth).

Notebook sales (laptops) accounted for 59% of Apple's computer sales in Q2. Earlier this month, Apple announced that it had now sold more than 100 million iPods since its introduction in 2001. I heard somewhere--I think it was on the MacCast podcast--that sales of iPods have outpaced any other consumer electronic device in history, including the Sony Walkman.