Apple's 12 billion reasons

By Jonny Evans

While we wait for Apple [AAPL] to discuss its financial results today, followed most believe by the later-than-expected introduction of OS X 'Lion' -- the first OS X without a Mac in its name -- I've gathered together just some of the company's many billions inside one easy-to-digest bite-sized list.

[ABOVE: With all these billions, now Apple is in the clouds]

Over one billion visitors have visited Apple retail stores worldwide in the ten years since the chain began in May 2001.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is the company's biggest shareholder, his net worth is over $2 billion (5.4 million shares x $373.80 = $2 billion+.).

At $345.67 billion Apple is the most valuable technology company in the world, by market cap.

$65.8 billion: Apple's cash reserves, (Q2 11).

Over 15 billion Apps have been downloaded via the App Store.

$2 billion: IHS/Screen Digest expects App Store game sales to approach $2 billion worldwide in 2011.

10 billion: Apple has sold well in excess of 10 billion songs via iTunes.

$2.5 billion: Amount paid to app developers so far

$1.4 billion: iTunes Store revenue in Q2

$12.3 billion: Recognized revenue from iPhone and accessory sales in Q2 (up form $5.45 billion the year previous).

$5 billion: First half revenue in China -- this will explode with the next-gen iPhone. Apple has sold 0.1255 billion iPhones worldwide so far.

$5.7 billion: Apple's capital expenditure budget for the year, only $0.7 billion on retail, the rest "outside of retail". More data centers, perhaps?

Apple will reveal a new series of billions during its financial call tonight. Wall Street expects revenue in the region of $24.97 billion and earnings of $5.83 per share. Sales are predicted to include 17 million iPhones, almost 8 million iPads, and nearly 4 million Macs.

How will Steve's legions improve on these figures?

Have I missed a great Apple stat? Let us know what it is in comments below. What are you expecting from Apple's results today? When do you think Lion will ship?

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