Apple posted a record revenue of $20.34 billion and sold 3.89 million Macs, 14.1 million iPhones and 4.1 million iPad tablet computers, its highest revenue ever.
Talking about the iPhone sales, Apple CEO Steve Jobs noted “It handily beat RIM’s 12.1 million Blackberries sold in their last quarter. We’ve now passed RIM. I don’t see them catching up with us in the foreseeable future. It will be a challenge for them to create a mobile software platform and convince developers to support a third platform.”
Apple’s success is bolstered by its innovative products like the iPhone 4 as well as the iPad tablet which still remains without a viable competitor and has taken the consumer electronics market by storm.
Both devices can run over 300,000 applications sold on the App Store as well as rent or purchase from a library of thousands of music and movie titles from the company’s thriving iTunes Store which are formidable earners. Apple’s ecosystem is also fueled by the commercial success of its Apple retail stores which now number over 300 around the world.
“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,” Jobs revealed.
The recently launched C $119 AppleTV streaming video device has also sold a notable 250,000 units in just the first six weeks. Surprising response for a product that’s just been introduced.
The company’s financial press release stated that, “Apple sold 3.89 million Macs during the quarter, a 27 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 14.1 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 91 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.05 million iPods during the quarter, representing an 11 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. Apple also sold 4.19 million iPads during the quarter.”
The introduction of the iPad secured the company’s future in an entirely new segment that As the popularity of the company’s lifesaving product, the iPod, declined slightly this quarter but consider that there have been over 260,000,000 units sold since 2001.
On the tablet front, 7-inch tablets from rivals Research in Motion and Samsung (running Google’s Android OS) are set to launch within the next couple of months but Apple CEO Steve Jobs had an interesting observation about the upcoming competition.
“We think the 7 inch tablets will be dead on arrival, and manufacturers will realize they’re too small and abandon them next year. They’ll then increase the size, abandoning the customers and developers who bought into the smaller format,” Jobs said.
