This Mac thing really is here to stay. Yesterday, Apple announced that it sold 2.16 million Macs in the quarter ending Sept. 30, 400,000 more than its previous best. Much of the growth can likely be attributed to a strong portable line and the launch of a new line of iMacs.
In case anyone was still worried that the iPhone wasn’t as big a hit as expected, worry no more. Apple sold more than 1.1 million of the devices from July 1 to Sept. 30, bringing the sales total to 1.4 million since its late June launch, the company announced at its quarterly earnings call. It was a booming set of months, all told. Apple pulled in revenues $6.22 billion in Q4, with $904 million in profit. The profit increase represents bottom-line growth of more than 67 percent from the year before.
Less rosy, at least in terms of Apple’s relationship with its customers and its business partners, is that COO Tim Cook estimates that up to 250,000 of those iPhones were purchased with the intent to unlock and use on other networks. That can’t please AT&T, and we all know how customers feel about bricked phones.
All in all, an unbelievable quarter for Apple — and they’re forecasting $9.2 billion for the December holiday period. Insane. I still can’t believe my parents decided not to get in on AAPL stock in 1996 when it was under $10 a share…
10 responses to “Apple Sold Record Numbers of Macs Last Quarter”
Ahem, perhaps it had something to do with the prospect of eight more years worth of college tuition payments, some of which were overlapping.
Did you notice that Apple’s guidance for next quarter ($1.42/sh) is actually HIGHER than analysts expectations ($1.39/sh)?
When the hell has that happened before?
O_o
1996? It was down below $7 a share in April of 2003 and I’m still kicking myself I didn’t buy a thousand shares then. If we only knew then….
I bought in at $13.40 a share.
As a recent convert from Windows to Mac, I can think of two reasons for the higher sales of Macs: the spread of Apple stores and the lack of enthusiasm over Vista. When I was looking to replace a Win XP desktop, I went to big box stores and looked at Compaqs and HPs, but the salespeople weren’t helpful and couldn’t get me worked up about the innovations of Vista. I had the opposite experience at the Apple store where someone took the time to show me what OS X is all about and get me excited about buying a Mac.