Apple has been making Macintosh computers for the past 28 years. The company’s newer iOS devices, while only being on the market for a relatively short time, have already outpaced the Mac business.

Speaking to Fortune Magazine, Apple CEO Tim Cook, spoke on iOS growth especially that of the iPad which has sold 55 million units to date:

This 55 is something no one would have guessed. Including us. To put it in context, it took us 22 years to sell 55 million Macs. It took us about 5 years to sell 22 million iPods, and it took us about 3 years to sell that many iPhones. And so, this thing is, as you said, it’s on a trajectory that’s off the charts.

The fine folks at Asymco have created a graph that shows just how amazingly fast Apple’s iOS devices have sold in comparison to its Mac business:

Overall, Apple sold 156 million iOS devices last year. The company has sold 122 million Macs over its 28 year lifespan. That should blow your mind.

Cook spoke more on how the iPad has grown into almost its own economy. The device currently has 170,000 apps built specifically for it. That’s on top of the already massive amount of apps for the iPhone that are compatible with the iPad.

Apple bet on the tablet market overtaking the PC market which seems to be happening to an extent. While Apple still supports the Mac with the upcoming Mountain Lion release, it seems that they are moving towards more of a unified OS that will look similar on both their portable devices and home computers.

Microsoft is moving towards a unified OS as well with their Windows 8 release that will use the Metro style that is the same across both Windows phones and desktops.

The important thing to take from all this is that Apple’s iOS devices have changed the way we interact with computers. They are going to continue to change how we interact with our world. While people like myself are going to stick to our old-fashioned PCs, the new wave of interactivity will help more people use computers in new and interesting ways.