davidwes on 14 July 2008
The money for the iPhone is accounted for on a two year basis, which means that a percentage of your purchase it put on there books each month, same as the Apple TV which is why both get free updates. THe touch is just a one time thing, you purchase it and apple puts it on there books. They had some legal problems a couple of years ago about this issue and so they now handle there accounting this way. I will try to find a link about it.
For the first iphone apple made a percentage of your monthly phone bill. For the new iPhone apple is getting a sizable upfront subsidy for the phone. This means the iPhone is WAY more profitable then the touch.
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