Posted by
alfredlester on Tuesday, July 21, 2009 6:42:46 PM
SAN FRANCISCO &<51; Steven P. Jobs, Apple&S217;s chief executive, missed most of Apple&S217;s third quarter. It turns out the company did not need him.
Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., reported robust third-quarter profit driven by unexpectedly strong sales of Macintosh computers and a burst in iPhone purchases late in the quarter, after the introduction of a new model, the 3GS.
&S220;We&S217;re making our most innovative products ever and our customers are responding,&S221; Mr. Jobs said in a statement. &S220;We&S217;re thrilled to have sold over 5.2 million iPhones during the quarter, and users have downloaded more than 1.5 billion applications from our App Store in its first year.&S221;
Apple reported that its net profit jumped 15 percent, to $1.23 billion, or $1.35 a share, up from $1.07 billion, or $1.19 a share, in the same quarter a year ago.
Quarterly revenue rose to $8.34 billion, from $7.46 billion last year. That exceeded even some of the optimistic expectations of analysts, who projected Apple to announce revenue of $8.16 billion and a profit of $1.16 a share, according to a survey conducted by Thomson Reuters
Apple said it sold 2.6 million Macs in the quarter ended June 26, up slightly from 2.5 million in the same quarter last year. Though other computer makers have suffered as consumers slowed their spending, Apple catalyzed Mac sales with the June release of a new line of MacBook Pro laptops that were priced slightly below earlier models.
IPhone sales were up sevenfold from the 717,000 iPhones sold in the quarter a year ago. In June, Apple introduced the updated 3GS in eight countries, adding new capabilities like the ability to record video, send picture messages and dial with voice commands absolutely free credit report. Apple previously said it sold more than one million 3GS handsets in the first three days of its availability.
Apple also lowered the price of the old iPhone 3G to $99 in an effort to increase its market share in the expanding market for smartphones.
In the only dark spot for the company, sales of the iPod dropped to 10.2 million, from 11 million a year ago, a decline of 7 percent, which analysts say reflects a saturation of the market for MP3 music players as well as the migration of people to phones that play music.
Apple stock has jumped more than 30 percent over the last quarter, buoyed by Apple&S217;s growing traction with its niche market of affluent urban and suburban consumers unaffected by the recession, and by Wall Street&S217;s growing confidence in how the company might fare without Mr. Jobs, who had a liver transplant in the spring but has recently returned to work
The last six months &S220;have been a resounding endorsement&S221; of Apple&S217;s management team, led by the chief operating officer, Timothy D. Cook, said Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray. &S220;This basically shows that in six months of running the company, Tim Cook has basically pulled it off in a terrible economy.&S221;
Apple shares were up more than $3 in after-hours trading. They had closed at $151.51 in regular trading.
Sales Drive Robust Quarter for Apple
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