Apple: Best Mac, iPhone quarterly sales ever
Apple did not disappoint investors as it closed out its fiscal year. The company reported its earnings Monday afternoon, calling the fiscal fourth quarter of 2009 its "most profitable ever."
Apple recorded revenue of $9.87 billion and earnings of $1.67 billion, or $1.82 per share. That's up from the $7.9 billion in revenue and $1.26 per share of a year ago. And that easily fell within the range of what Wall Street was hoping for. Analysts had been expecting earnings per share somewhere between $1.24 and $1.72, and revenue between $8.74 billion and $10.55 billion.
The evidence of Apple's continued ability to float above the economic storm of the past year sent its shares over the $200 mark in after-hours trading, surpassing its 52-week high of $192.32.
Apple is still sticking with accounting rules that require it to recognize revenue for the iPhone and Apple TV over a two-year period. Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said that the company can start recognizing the bulk of iPhone and Apple TV revenue in the quarter the products are sold anytime over the next year. But he said he's still unsure when Apple will actually make the switch.
As in previous quarters, Apple again opted to break out what revenue would look like if it didn't follow those rules. For the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended September 28, revenue would rise to $12.25 billion and earnings to $2.85 billion.
Apple says that it sold more iPhones than ever during the quarter, 7.4 million, representing a 7 percent rise from a year ago. That's due to the expanding number of regions, including China at the end of the month, that have the iPhone--as well as more carriers than ever, said Apple COO Tim Cook. He also pointed to the continually expanding App Store, which now has 85,000 applications available.
Cook also was able to get a dig in at its competitors in the smartphone market--one of whom launched a snarky anti-iPhone ad on TV over the weekend--saying, "Frankly I think people are really just trying to catch up with the first iPhone developed two years ago. We've moved beyond that."
And while the iPhone is indeed continuing to boost Apple's bottom line, the company also moved a lot of Macs during the traditional back-to-school quarter. Apple says it sold 3.05 million Macs, 17 percent more than a year ago. iPods were, as expected, the company's weak spot--the 10.2 million sold was 8 percent less than a year ago.
In a statement, CEO Steve Jobs crowed about the successful sales period for the Mac and iPhone, but also hinted at what's in store for next year.
"We are thrilled to have sold more Macs and iPhones than in any previous quarter," Jobs said. "We've got a very strong lineup for the holiday season and some really great new products in the pipeline for 2010."
In fact, the company that usually doesn't like discussing unreleased products seemed to take pains to cryptically reference them. Oppenheimer mentioned it a couple times, saying the company is looking forward "to exciting new products. We're very enthusiastic for the year ahead."
When discussing the upcoming year, Cook also noted "an amazingly strong product pipeline."
Is this code for the long-awaited touch-screen tablet? Or the less-exciting but recently speculated iMac and white plastic MacBook update? Blogger John Gruber at DaringFireball.net also says he hears that Tuesday will bring a swarm of new products, including a multitouch trackpad for Mac desktops. Perhaps the extra attention called to unnamed future products is a way of detracting from what is supposed to be Microsoft's big week, with the launch of Windows 7 scheduled for Thursday.
In regards to its brand new Snow Leopard operating system, Cook said that sales of OS upgrades to Mac OS X 10.6 were twice as high as the same five-week initial sales period from the previous version of the OS, called Leopard. "We were very pleasantly surprised by it," he said.
Apple stores also had their best quarter ever in terms of revenue ($1.7 billion) and Mac sales (670,000), and 15 new locations opened over the three-month period.
But as the company turns in a string of "best fill-in-the-blank quarters ever" (holiday, non-holiday, in the history of the company), it's hard not to wonder if exceedingly high expectations will soon be a problem. Apple is, as always, choosing to be conservative. The company is predicting its fiscal first quarter 2010 will bring in between $1.70 per share and $1.78 per share and revenue of between $11.3 billion and $11.6 billion.
This post was updated throughout at 3:40 p.m. with information from the company's earnings call.
Erica Ogg is a CNET News reporter who covers Apple, HP, Dell, and other PC makers, as well as the consumer electronics industry. She's also one of the hosts of CNET News' Daily Podcast. In her non-work life, she's a history geek, a loyal Dodgers fan, and a mac-and-cheese connoisseur. E-mail Erica. 
*cue crickets chirping*
:)
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=aapl
Really- the world is not so black and white anymore. You *can* use both systems for what they are meant for. You don't have to be so devoted to one thing as to exclude the rest of the world. That sort of backwards and limited thinking is something that Apple's been fighting for years.
Besides, every Mac sold is another chance to have Microsoft sell another copy of Windows to run on it.
...because you usually do ;)
--
"very mature"
Oh, grow a sense of humor already. The very fact that you're spouting faux indignation (and a boatload of strawmen) is sufficient enough to tell me your frustration of not being able to say something nasty, at least not without looking like a complete tool in the process.
(...or did you think that no one knew how to read your posting history? ;) ).
There's actually some truth in Dan's statement: MS makes more money from Windows bought by a Mac user that they do from someone buying a new machine from Dell.
But my advice to anyone buying a Mac is this: Don't rush out to buy Windows. Use it for a while and see if there is really a program that you cannot live without. if there is, try some of the other alternatives, like Wine to see if you can get that program to run under OS X. My MacBookPro serves me extremely well since I switched a year ago. No Windows here.
Yes, that's always bugged me as well.
iPhone 3.1 iComa/iZombie and battery problems.
Snow Leopards eating users files...
Continued climb or the top of the Apple tree??? Time will tell.
OK, "PADDLES, CLEAR, ZAP, ZAP" is pretty funny, but take it easy!
Breaking an abusive monopoly takes time, and it'll even get Microsoft to cough up some better products along the way.
In the end we all win, no matter what OS an individual uses.
MSFT 26.36 down -0.14
AAPL 189.86 up +1.81
Looks to me like you are a bit confused.
very excited though for both companies... apple keeps setting the bar high... ms has no choice but to respond.... awesome ipod meant awesome zune... awesome osx means awesome windows...
if apple were to open up their os to any pc id be in.. otherwise ill wait.. (which will probably be forever :S) i wanna develop for the company thats going to make me the most money... and thats windows by far right now
Windows 7 will most likely cannibalize off of the existing Windows XP - using base. Windows 7 adoption will certainly have some growth, but Apple's numbers will most likely remain unaffected.
The funny part is, most folks have been sticking with XP all this time, or grunting along with Vista. Since most of Windows' consumer sales come from folks buying new machines, that growth will likely continue at the same pace as XP and Vista had before - that is, Windows 7 will sell at about the same rates (growth, raw numbers, whatever) that XP/Vista machines have over last month/quarter, and so forth.
There has been no demonstrable or provable pent-up demand, or objective proof of folks holding out to buy a new machine until Windows 7 shows up. There has been an artificial pressure created by retail stores (Best Buy, et al) clearing inventory off the shelves to somewhat force an anticipation, but remember - if you buy a Dell or HP right now, it comes with Windows 7. Where is that big, bad demand? Dell or HP would've been crowing about a boom of some sort by now.
(proof? http://www.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/global/shared/windows7/experience/index?c=us&l=en&s=gen )
So, yes, I'd take a bet that Windows 7 isn't going to put much of a dent in Apple's sales now.
Businesses that have been loathe to go to Vista, or are currently on Vista, will be happy to have W7 for many reasons. For one, they won't have to go out and purchase new hardware, in order to gain what Microsoft has developed.
There are quite a few large companies that predominantly use all sorts of Microsoft products because of the available resources to get. Additionally, Microsoft has been pushing for years, to have more developers in a very structured approach, internationally. As a result, the effort that Microsoft has yielded a very broad base of human resources to support Microsoft products.
In case you forgot, or do not know, I prefer my Apple computers over my other personal computers. I also prefer OSX as my operating system for day to day use.
I agree with you to an extent, but businesses aren't exactly much for impulse buys. :)
Case in point: at work, yep, we'll transition from XP to 7 (Windows 7 Enterprise), but like most businesses...
- Microsoft won't see any boost in profit from it (we're paying for the same EA agreement, and at the same prices)
- it'll take about a year before the transition is complete
- we haven't even finished preliminary testing yet (it's only been a month)
Meanwhile, I'm installing more and more Linux-based servers/services (esp. for the Internet-facing bits), and yesterday the IT director has put in a serious word about replacing some MS SQL servers with Postgres long-term, and their apps with Linux-based versions (he found out that no, our budgets aren't unlimited, and paying six figures a year for the MS EA agreement isn't exactly justifiable in all cases... )
I believe my 70,000 shares of Apple stock I purchased at 3.891 in 1997 have had a substantial profit margin for me.
I concur. They have done a very good job at increasing shareholder value over the past five years.
Don't hate because you like crap, I mean windows.
and the best part I bought most of my shares only this year back in February at the 90 -120$ mark
i still remember how back in march some analysts were setting targets of 80 and 100 ! Lol !!!
analysts = major fail !
I like how most if not MS fans say, "Just wait until this comes out" Your laughable
and the Zune HD what, who!! lol
...the fact that you had to "stretch" says that your argument is pretty weak to begin with.
Important point to note : mac sales are up by 17% , but thats not the whole story
desktop sales {iMac ,Mac mini ,Mac pro} were down by more than 16%
but laptop made up for it with a stunning 35% increase
thats huge in this economy , considering the 1000+$ prices
who wants to sell 20 million computers with a margin of 2% like dell ?
when you can make the same money selling just 3 million !
on a side note : lets hope for more brilliant laptop hunter ads !!!
they really are working ,aren't they !
:)
it's called a joke maybe , it's meant to make people feel happy actually
It's an American success story. We all should be happy, shareholders or not.
- by Gold_Storm_Mac October 19, 2009 4:10 PM PDT
- recession! what recession?
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- by The_happy_switcher October 19, 2009 4:19 PM PDT
- It's only hitting Redmond.
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- by Perry_Clease October 19, 2009 4:24 PM PDT
- The recession is real and too many people who normally would be working are looking for a job. I count my blessings that my military pension comes in every month no matter what happens with my freelance jobs and that my wife's job seems secure. That being said we are being frugal in some ways, not going to movies as much or buying clothes just because, but we are buying quality when we do have to make a purchase, Macs fill that bill.
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