Apple posts $20bn+ quarter
Jobs 'blown away'
Apple blew past nearly all Wall Street moneymen's most optimist predictions when it announced Monday that it sucked up $20.34bn in revenues during its most recent quarter.
"We are blown away to report over $20 billion in revenue and over $4 billion in after-tax earnings — both all-time records for Apple," said CEO Steve Jobs in a prepared statement.
That "over $4 billion," to be precise, was $4.31bn — meaning that, for once at least, Jobs was being understated.
Although the iPad and iPhone have been getting all the ink recently, Mac sales soared, with Cupertino selling 3.89 million of them during the quarter, an increase of 27 percent year-on-year.
Jobs also pointedly noted that: "iPhone sales of 14.1 million were up 91 percent year-over-year, handily beating the 12.1 million phones RIM sold in their most recent quarter." iPad sales were also brisk at 4.19 million.
iPod sales were down to 9.05 million, an 11 per cent drop year-on year — but that drop was to be expected with music-playing iPhones flying off shelves. Still, you can't help but think Jobs & Co. would have preferred that the recent iPod refresh might have juiced results a bit more, well, juicily.
Apple's steamrollering of the competition appears to be continuing — and Jobs also noted that "We still have a few surprises left for the remainder of this calendar year." ®
COMMENTS
@ Yet another AC
Have you ever even considered, just once, that perhaps it's you that is getting it wrong? If Apple kit is as bad as you'd like to think it is, I'm guessing that Jobs would be lucky to sell a single item.
You might like to remind yourself, although I doubt you will, that there is every chance that the people buying Macs have used Windows PCs previously and made the decision to buy Apple based upon their experience with Redmond. Some people feel the need to be able to switch components and fool around with the OS; others just want to use the machine they bought and have it do stuff.
You want to buy a Windows or Linux PC and add bits, remove bits, paint it silver and fill it with custard, you go right ahead. Some of us, and an increasing number of us by all accounts, like to buy something they're already happy with. Apple kit looks good and some of us have aesthetic values in addition to our being fussy about the spec of the PC we buy.
For the record, I wouldn't have an iPhone unless they gave one to me and an iPod is, for me, an irrelevance.
BTW, to my shame - not! - my scanner is run from a G3 that I bought new in 1997. That 'expensive' Mac is the cheapest computer I ever bought.
iPod refresh.
"Still, you can't help burt think Jobs & Co. would have preferred that the recent iPod refresh might have juiced results a bit more, well, juicily."
I doubt the figures include sales for the new line-up. None of the new devices have been out that long.
iPods will still have their niche until people get used to streaming from the cloud (or their computers, via AirPlay), but that's at least 3-4 years away yet. I expect we'll see some of the iPods culled from the range over the intervening years, until just one or two models remain.
But the real news isn't how Apple have got it so right, but how every other company has got it so spectacularly wrong. If our universities are cranking out so much mediocrity and incompetence, we need to be addressing this. Now.
Quality counts
I think in a recession that people are just more careful with their money. They are willing to 'invest' in a quality product, but less willing to impulse spend on something that's basically just cheap tat -- like your average netbook.
Whether you have some irrational hatred for Apple or not, it's unlikely that all the customer satisfaction surveys they top can be incorrect. Face it -- Apple make a good product that is marketed well that fits a consumer need. No wonder they make money!
