Edible Apple

Last week saw a number of Apple executives take the stand in the Apple-Samsung trial which has now been ongoing for a week.

One notable appearance came from Phil Schiller, Apple’s Senior VP of worldwide marketing.

It’s no secret that Apple is world renowned for its advertising efforts, having had a hand in a number of iconic advertising campaigns over the past few years, from the memorable  iPod silhouette ads to the now-defunct “I’m a Mac/I’m a PC” ads.

In any event, while being cross-examined, the topic of Apple’s marketing budget came up and Schiller helped shed some light on just how many millions Apple spends on advertising for its respective products.

Specifically, Schiller told the Courtroom that Apple spent $97.5 million on iPhone ads in 2008, a figure which grew to $149.6 million in 2009. And in 2010, putting Apple’s iPhone and iPad marketing budgets together, Apple expended approximately $346.6 million in advertising efforts. That’s a lot of dough, but when you have over $100 billion in the bank, it really ain’t no thang.

And further highlighting the acceleration of Apple’s advertising expenditures, Apple’s complete marketing budget in 2009 was $501 million, only to grow to $691 million in 2010 and a whopping $933 million in 2011.

Interestingly, Schiller quipped that inside the confines at Apple, the company views each successive iPhone as a success if the total sales of a particular device equals the sum total of all previous iPhone  sales. A lofty goal, but incredibly, one that Apple has maintained with every single iPhone release.

And with the iPhone 5 slated for release in about a month and a half, Apple could very well be on track for a huge blowout quarter.