iPithy: Why the World's Biggest Company Speaks With the Fewest Words

Apple lets its numbers do the talking.

Apple lets its numbers do the talking.

America's most successful large company is also the most laconic. The average Apple earnings release clocks in at 250 words, less than a fifth the length of the average statement from one of the ten largest U.S. corporations, according to Bloomberg.

It might seem like a frivolous factoid, but it reflects a larger point: Perhaps Apple's can afford to be brief because it derives its revenue from a such a small list of products. The iPhone and iPad account for more than 75% of the company's revenue. The same cannot be said of Walmart, which sells thousands of products, or GE, which is dozens of divisions and hundreds of products under the hood of a single corporation.