Mac shipments set an Apple record

Updated 2pm PT with more details from the release.

Apple reported record Mac sales and one of its best third quarters ever, but its usual conservative guidance should set off the usual Wall Street craziness.

For the company's third fiscal quarter, which ended June 28, Apple reported $7.46 billion in revenue and net profit of $1.07 billion, equal to $1.19 per share. That far exceeds the company's own guidance for the quarter and also handily beats Wall Street's expectations of $7.37 billion and $1.08 per share.

Mac sales were about in line with expectations, at 2.5 million units shipped during the quarter, and iPod shipments were actually a little higher than expected, at 11 million units. Mac shipments grew 41 percent, while iPod shipments grew 12 percent.

Surprising no one, however, Apple's guidance for the upcoming quarter was well below Wall Street forecasts. The company said to expect $7.8 billion in revenue and earnings per share of $1, while analysts were looking for $8.3 billion in revenue and $1.24 in earnings per share.

I'll update this post in a bit with some more numbers. Stay tuned for live coverage of the company's earnings conference call at 2 p.m. PT.

UPDATE - iPhone sales were 717,000 during the quarter, which was about what we had expected. iPhone sales were much lower due to the supply issues Apple ran into around the middle of May, but things have certainly picked up since then, with 1 million iPhone 3Gs out there already and lines and shortages awaiting those who want one now.

[MaLvaDo39]

Apple is recession-proof!

[Kwasiowusu]

So! Apple sold only 2.5 million Mac's, out of a total of 72 million PC's sold worldwide in the last quarter? Not very impressive is it, for a company that a CNET article claimed was "dominating" the American PC market, just a few days ago. Also, a total of just 717,000 iPhones sold in the last quarter, is puny when compared to the over 300 million cell phones, sold on the planet in the last quarter. and pales into insiginifance when compared to the over 120 million cell phones sold by Nokia alone in the last quarter. Its really funny when you compare tiny iPhone sales to the gargantuan amount of press and free propaganda(what passes for the press these days), that Aple gets.

[t8]

Apple does sell both the hardware and software though, compared to other companies that sell either or.

[Penguinisto]

Hey Kwasi...


"BOO!"


Heh - sorry to get you angry enough so that your mom can hear you upstairs and all, but 41% growth? At this rate, you can expect Apple to own 10% of the market by end-of-year, and 15% by this time next year. Guess what this means for Microsoft? ;)

[edaboy51]

Kwa..
These growth figures do cause concern for Apple's competitors in PC and phone markets. Aren't you fortunate to have no stake in Apple's competitors.

[technewsjunkie]

You flunked your logic course didn't you?

[Thomas, David]

The one GLARING fact of your argument, and the part that is obvious to everyone else but oblivious to you, is that Apple is a single company with that growth.

You are comparing one company against a lot of others.

[Kwasiowusu]

@ Thomas, David, its really amusing reading the increassingly desperate attempts at spin by the Apple cultists. My points are flawed because I am comparing Apple's Mac sales to Windows PC sales by many firms? Ooooookay..Lemme see...HP alone sold over 12 million units in the last quarter, that is 9.5 million more PC's than Apple sold in that quarter. Lets not forget that Apple was selling personal computers long before HP went into that business. Lets not forget also, that at one time Apple accoubted for 25% of personal comnputers sold in America. Even Dell, that was founded long after Apple, sold 10 million PC's in the last quarter, compared to just 2.5 million by Apple. You don't really have a point do you? But hey, keep it coming.

[Penguinisto]

Hey Kwasi... HP may have sold 12m PC's, but how many of them had Windows on them when they left the factory? (probably not as large of a number as you may think).

Also, you're committing the fallacy of static numbers vs. growth. Apple grew 41% YoY. What percentage did HP grow?

[thedreaming]

I've never seen anyone stand in line for days for a Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, or LG. I have seen people make a line that goes around the block for an iphone, the world's smallest mac. It's a mac that has a phone and gps in it, let's be honest, that's why everyone is so excited.

All the new phones coming out now were made to compete with the iphone and if the iphone didn't exist, those phone would have never been made. There would be no need.

Apple's market share continues to grow, everyone hates windows vista, and even in a recession, Steve Jobs continues to make money. I think they're doing pretty good for themselves.

[DrtyDogg]

@Thomas David, Ok, then compare it to one companies, Dell's growth in the US market more than doubled Apples.

[joetesta70]

MORE MONEY FOR $TEVE JOB$, LESS FOR THOSE IN NEEED.

APPLE IS THE NEW EVIL EMPIRE. Ever wonder why Steve Jobs is not on Forbes' list of biggest philanthropists in the US? Greed. He'd only have to give away 1% to make the cut. He never promotes the environment (Greenpeace repeatedly dings Apple on recycleability of its products) or fighting disease, hinger - never anything but what will make $teve money.

Bill Gates makes the Forbes philanthropy list, Michael Dell, Sergei Brin, Larry Ellison and a host of other tech people.

Closed and proprietary system. That's Apple. That's Evil.

[Tom Krazit]

Spam much?

[Penguinisto]

Hey joetesta... maybe you can donate your computer(s) to charity and, you know, help solve the problem you've harped on in your post?

[thedreaming]

Multi-billion dollar corporations don't exist because they like to make people happy. They exist to make money. Everyone needs money and Steve Jobs knows how to make money, even in a recession. He's not evil, he's a business man.

[gsekse]

Unfair, many of the PC users are stuck with compatibility issues. In our office everyone is using Linux or Mac at home and "tolerating" Windows at work because our commercial software is only available for Windows. If it was available for Linux or Mac, a switching we would go...

[Penguinisto]

I figure that if Apple keeps growing at the pace they are, that probably won't be a problem for much longer (as developers begin madly porting apps and suites to OSX...)

[wango2007]

Duh! Commercial software is not available on the Mac because Linux and Mac OSX are such loser operating systems.

Believe me, software developers would write for Linux and Mac id they were viable markets. But they are not. They are dead-ends and generally only people who write code for free write for Linux or OSX.

Quit complaining about Windows. I have used it every day since version 3.1 and have had no real problems with it in demanding work environments. Not mention I have bought a home, raised a family, paid for two kids college educations, traveled... and done much more thanks to Windows and the work I could do with it.

[The_Decider]

Wango,

Could you have squeezed more BS in such a tiny space?

[iertry]

The figures apple reported are worldwide. You even contradicted yourself stating worldwide figures and then talking about the american market! Outside of the US Apple's mac sales are very low. In the US market Apple's penetration is rapidly growing, but in the worldwide market its penetration is still very small.

[Kwasiowusu]

@ Jertry, No contradiction. Apple sold 2.5 million Mac's worldwide, out of 72 million PC's sold worldwide. It's impossible for Apple to "dominate" the US market(the world's biggest", while at the same time selling only 2.5 milion worldwide. The fact of the matter is that Apple sells only 8 out of ecery 100 PC's sold in the US market. That is not domination. That is getting your behind whipped.

[The_Decider]

Whose market share is growing?

Whose market share is shrinking?

At todays growth rate, which is very sustainable, Mac will have at least 20% of the market share in the US in 4-5 years. Linux is growing also.

Guess whose numbers are shrinking?

Isn't past your bedtime?

[joetesta70]

APPLE = BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Greenpeace exposes Apple and ranks Apple below "lower than HP (PC), Dell (PC), and Sony (PC). Hi I'm a Mac, and I'm exposing third world children to dangerous chemicals (according to Greenpeace). But heck, $teve Job$ makes more money so that's cool.

Read it for yourself at http://www.greenpeace.org/apple/about.html

[Penguinisto]

Still haven't given away your computer(s) to charity? Tsk tsk... what a little hypocrite you are... ;)

[bgnm]

Now we'll all be subjected to the Apple detractors who tell us that 2.5 M computers is insignificant, etc. etc. It must be a miserable existence when you can derive pleasure only by demeaning success.

[Penguinisto]

It's all they can do... but I don't blame 'em; after all, handwaving madly to distract from Apple's 41% Mac sales growth is all they can do now.

I suspect it'll get worse for them as Apple's growth curve starts climbing even more sharply...

[Kwasiowusu]

@ bgnm & Penguinisto, exactly what part of "2.5 million Macs sold is puny, as compared to 72 million Windows PC's" is wrong? I see you never actually challenged that statement, and instead, launched ad hominem attacks, and then tried to change the topic to Apple's alleged growth rate. It's worth pointing out to you, that if you were selling only 1.5 million Mac units last year?s June quarter, its very easy to register a sales growth of 41%, simply by increasing sales by 1 million units this year. The Windows PC market, which was at approx 60 million units sold last year?s June quarter, could register an increase in unit sales of over 10 million units this year, and still register sales growth of less than 20% for the quarter. Meanwhile, very small Apple Mac sales = higher percentage growth effect of small increases in sales. Because of the bigger increase in Windows unit sales, as compared to the very small increase in absolute Mac unit sales, the gap between Windows PC?s and Macs actually increased in the last quarter, by nearly 10 million units. So, no, you are NOT catching up. The gap is actually increasing.

[Penguinisto]

So tell us Kwasi... what percentage in growth did HP, Dell and the like experience this year? I bet it isn't anywhere near 41%.

Sure 2.5m computers doesn't seem like much, but Apple's growth curve, if it were to continue growing as it has (with ever-increasing percentages), means that next year at this time, they'd be selling 5m computers per quarter. Year after that, it'd be 10m per quarter. Meanwhile, HP would remain static at best with its curve at maybe 14m and 16m, respectively. By year three, Apple would be out-selling HP. By year five, they'd be outselling HP and half of Dell.

Now yes this is a simplification, and assumes that the growth percentages would keep increasing as they have on Apple's part, but I figured that breaking it down a bit would perhaps help explain to you why it is that growth curves are just as important as raw numbers - and are often more important when you're calculating trends.

You see, your argument is flawed because if it were true in Apple's case, then their growth would be decreasing in percentage as they got larger. Fact is, their growth percentage has only been increasing.

Get it now?

/P

[Riquez-001]

Troll. Your green apple info is well out of date, several years so in fact. Try reading the notice at the top of the page you linked to. I think you'll find that Apple are now ahead of the rest in terms of green goals & practices.

[t8]

Software is a commodity now. Microsoft is feeling the heat. The future is smart gadgets and devices. Software on its own is not as valuable as in times past. People want the full experience of hardware, software, and service. This is where Apple is winning. Microsoft's Zune jsut shows that they can't really compete in this arena.

[wango2007]

Apple is barely a computer company anymore. It is an iPod, iPhone company.

The Mac cult would like us all to believe the machine and OS are superior, but 280 million computer buyers each year don't buy it... they buy Windows machines instead. People always flock to products where they get value for money, whether it's a flat screen TV or a car, but no one is exactly flocking to the Mac. Worldwide sales of less than 8 million Macs per year is dismal by industry standards.

Apple has been unable to sell large numbers of computers for 30 years now. Their day is done, except for those who think the Mac is an object of cult worship.

[kelmon]

50% of revenue comes from sales of the Mac. While that clearly means that Apple is not dedicated computer company, it's also more than a small contributor. Part of the reason why Apple does well today is that they are no longer dependent on a single product line for their revenue, which is clearly the smart thing to do. This is not unusual in the computing industry.

With respect to the rest of the comment, I'm not sure who you are trying to convince. If you'd said that 10-years ago then we'd all be agreeing with you but suggesting that "their day is done" today following this report obviously nonsense. Products that are "done" typically don't almost double their sales in a year.

[bommai]

According to your logic, Apple should quit making computers right!!! What do you think the computer market will look like in 10 years. Do you think it will look the same as today except faster computers! No. Things are going to be a lot different. Windows is already a minority when it comes to handhelds. Do you think desktop OSes are going to be relevant in 10 years!! You are equating commodity items with lusted after items. There are a lot of toilet papers sold today - they are commodity. There are a lot of no name desktops and laptops sold - almost no one makes much profit from it. Look at Apple's profit growth and revenue growth and then make your conclusions.

[Kwasiowusu]

Another point I just noticed about these Aple eranings report: Apple sold 717,000 iPhones in this June quarter as compared to 270,000 iPhones sold in the same quarter last year. Great, one would have thought..untill one considers the fact that, last years's 270,000 iPhone sales, were done in just 2 days, as compared to 3 full months of iPhone sales (90 days), in the June quarter this year.. So in 45 times as many days of sale, Apple barely manged to sell just 3 times as many iPhones. No surprise Apple's stock is down a massive 10% in after hours trading last night.

[kelmon]

That's true. However, it's also worth remembering that for about 2-months of the quarter Apple didn't have any stock of the iPhone and that potential buyers were probably waiting for the 3G iPhone that we all knew was coming. That said, while I can understand that Apple wanted to run down their existing inventory of the iPhone before the 3G iPhone launch, not having anything to sell for an extended period was stupid. That was just bad inventory management.

[AppleSuxLeo]

By the looks of him lately "Oldfather Whipple" will not be around much longer , and all the Mac hype will die off too ;)

[bommai]

If Mac OS X is such a loser OS, then why is Apple growing at a 40% annual rate while the US PC market is growing at 15%. Why is it that I never had to install Antivirus or anti-spamware software on my Mac OS X machine.

[quitifa]

I remember a lot of these similar arguments when Google began to seriously take on Yahoo! as a competitor years back:
*Yahoo! has more mail subscribers
*Yahoo! provides more comprehensive, to more wide-spread markets
*Yahoo! has more staying-power due to its larger product line up

We all know how that story is currently going (currently Yahoo!'s failed buyout by Microsoft and lack of diversification). So why are people so insistent on citing the SAME reasons why an older giant (such as Microsoft) can't possibly fallout to a smaller, faster-growing rival?

Honestly, look at it however you want...but with tech-markets you cannot cite '30 years' of data for Apple. One product can shift the entire software market in a new direction. Although they may not be shipping as many 'absolute' numbers of products, they are well on their way to correcting mistakes they made in the past, something other older/dominate technology companies are failing to do with smaller companies that have stepped up (LG, for instance).

Microsoft (Vista/Zune disappoinments), Toshiba (HD-DVD failure), Sony (Walk-Man products and Vaio notebooks)...are all companies that are failing at *some* of their relatively new product lineups. If nothing else...Apple has avoided that. They are adapting to an ever-changing market, albeit late, but they are making the necessary changes to tip-toe up behind the competition and take-over.

But hey, that 'NEVER' happens, right? Not sure...but Microsoft might want to ask GM what they thought of Toyota's slow growing marketshare in the early 1990s and what they think now....

As for the 'Environmental' argument...read the new data, some people on here like to make comments before knowing their facts.