Apple's Success Threatened by $4 Billion Industry Loss - Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Apple

AAPL

has been taking a beating with investors. The stock has plummeted more than 31 percent since September 4, 2012.

During the fall period, Apple also sold

47.8 million iPhones

and nearly 23 million iPads. This year the company announced that it had sold its

120 millionth tablet

, as well as its

25 billionth song

on iTunes. If the share price was the only thing Apple had to worry about, its future would be very bright. Unfortunately, the company's future could be jeopardized by overall market conditions that are out of its control. According to

The NPD Group

, the U.S. consumer technology industry declined two percent in overall sales last year. This led to a decline of more than $2 billion, bringing the industry's revenue down to $143 billion. NPD detailed the top five technology firms in the chart below, which shows that Apple products accounted for a significant portion of the year's revenue.

Even if tablet sales continue to rise in 2013, tablet revenue might have peaked with the success of the 10-inch tablet. Now that Apple's iPad Mini, Google's GOOG Nexus 7 and Amazon's AMZN Kindle Fire are beginning to steal the spotlight, manufacturers might have to accept weaker profit margins. According to NPD, Best Buy BBY, Walmart WMT, Apple, Amazon, and Staples SPLS were the top retailers, while Apple, Samsung, HP, Sony, and Dell were the top five brands. Those brands accounted for 45 percent of sales -- up from 42 percent in 2011. The most interesting detail of all, however, may be that flat-panel TVs -- which are largely believed to be a dying market -- helped account for 53 percent of sales in 2012. TVs were joined by notebooks, smartphones, tablets and desktop computers. Of those devices, there is only one Apple does not yet manufacture. Follow me @LouisBedigianBZ

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