RSSApple Profits Soar, iPod Sales Healthy
By Ed Oswald | Published July 19, 2006, 6:02 PM
Despite warnings to the contrary, Apple posted fairly impressive quarterly revenue on Wednesday, including stronger than expected iPod sales and Mac sales that increased at a rate faster than that of the broader PC market.
For the fiscal third quarter, Apple posted $4.37 billion in revenue, up from $3.52 billion in the year-ago quarter but slightly lower than the average estimate of $4.4 billion from analysts polled by Thompson Financial. However, what should catch the eye of investors is Apple's profitability -- up 48 percent to $472 million on 54 cents a share.
Apple's stock has taken quite a hit in recent months, falling from a high of $86.40 in mid-January to a low of $51 at the end of trading last week. Much of the slide has been due to a litany of warnings from analysts. Many said that the company would have trouble selling iPods and revenue would disappoint.
But the fears did not materialize, and the stock has since responded appropriately, jumping $4.60 or 8.5 percent in after hours trading Wednesday to $58.70.
By the numbers, Apple sold 8,111,000 iPods during the quarter, about 400,000 shy of last quarter's numbers, but still a 32 percent growth year-over-year. Mac sales grew slightly quarter-to-quarter, up about 200,000 units to 1.327 million computers and 12 percent year over year.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement that nearly three-quarters of the computers sold were Intel-based, making it one of the company's smoothest transitions ever. Additionally, the iPod maintained its 75 percent market share, and he assured investors that new products were in the pipeline.
"We're very pleased to report the second highest quarterly sales and earnings in Apple's history," Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer added. Analysts called Apple's results solid, saying they were above many expectations.
For the fiscal fourth quarter, Apple said it expected revenue of $4.5 billion to $4.6 billion on earnings per share of 46 to 48 cents. Those numbers are slightly lower than Wall Street estimates, although Apple has been known in the past to be conservative in its forecasts.
What a bunch of whiners & crybabies on BetaNews.
Did the poor azz baztards get offended? AWWWWW
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|Quite honestly....the system I have now can do anything I want and play any game I want so why should I waste my money on a new system just to be able to run and OS that isn't compatible with any of my software.
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|A nice Dell setup at 400$ is what 80% of people need to do what they have to do, but still they are ready to pay a couple k$ just for the look. Go figure...
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|That's right! And the box containing the MAC is white and it ain't beige! ;-)
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|aren't all dells either black&grey, black&green, or black&silver now?
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|Is the 'because their trendy' factor the only reason people buy ipods..?
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|And also the software, I guess.
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|It's because of the click wheel.
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|I was against iPods for a long long time. They were too pricey compared to the competition. I loved my little creative 512MB mp3 player, but when it broke, I broke down and got the iPod - Mainly because I support so many clients that have them and was always getting questions on it.
I still think it's a bit pricey, but between the way it works with iTunes and all the features of it, it's really a great device. I haven't seen anything that can match it yet on all fronts.
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|The sounds quality is pants. Compare it to say a Sony NW-A3000, or a Creative Zen, and then come back and tell us the iPod is great.
Poor build, poor sound quality, expensive, good marketing..
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|An Intel machine that runs both OSX and XP NATIVELY...why would anyone buy a PC anymore (unless the're poor azz bas****s, ha)
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|"An Intel machine that runs both OSX and XP NATIVELY...why would anyone buy a PC anymore (unless the're poor azz bas****s, ha) "
One word: customization. I also enjoy being able to run Windows on a more efficeint PC rather than a pretend-like IBM compatible. Then again--that's just me.
BTW, have you ever run Windows XP on the new Macs? I have, and I've also found about 14 new Blue screen errors I have never seen before...and trust me, I've seen my share of bsod errors over the years. I've also discovered that many older Windows 95 apps have difficulty--yes they are TRUE 32-bit, not the oldschool "386 enhanced" apps--and performance just seems to be sluggish, like the hardware wasn't made for running on Windows or something. Oh yeah, that's right, it wasn't!
Oh, and this has to do with the article...how? Ok, Apple's doing well. The Windows XP and MacOSX dual-boot was a grand idea, it was. I'm only saying that it was MADE FOR Mac OS, not Windows XP. Therefore, XP running is more of an afterthought, and the hardware just doesn't work as well as it could if it were in a PC.
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|just in case you didn't know.. Bootcamp.. is in "beta".. infact they just released 1.0.2.. yesterday? also a "beta"... no one has yet to say that it will run 100% stable...... and/or it ever will.. but for the only having 2 public betas so far, it does run damn good.
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|Win 95 wasn't 32-bit - so saying Win95 apps are 'true' 32-bit is a bit of an oxymoron.
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|im pretty sure you dunno what boot camp really does..
a non-destructive HD partitioning tool + HD boot manager that lets you select between Mac OS or Windows os when the system boots+ a collection of windows drivers
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|yes ... a collection of drivers that seem to be the root of all the problems.
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|Because you cant buy a $350.00 Mac with a monitor? You can get a XP machine these days at a very very cheap price (350.00 emachine with monitor at bestbuy WITHOUT waiting for a rebate). Mind you, they arent the best machines but they are great to simply surf the net, check emails, burn movies, chat, basic stuff. I would say a good 70% of the computer customers buy these monster machines ($1,000+) to do nothing more then surf, email and chat.
Also, Mac sucks to upgrade. I sell DVD burners and such for a living maybe 8% of my third party hardware will work on a Mac. If Apple would have let Mac clones to be made, Mac would probably be the leading the computer out there these days.
Apple tried this in the 90's with the power pc. It was supposed to be apple and ibm compatible.. It bombed - this will also bomb. People buy apple because they dont want microsoft, etc... if you want windows buy a windows machine at a cheaper price.. its simple logic.
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|One reason, I can build a PC myself. Computers are like anything else...if you know how to do it...it's best done yourself.
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|You are just asking to get flamed with a statement like that.
Another reason: not everybody thinks OS X is a must-have OS. You can't even run Adobe Photoshop natively under it anymore.
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|"Win 95 wasn't 32-bit"
what?
are you a moron?
windows 95 is where 32 bit apps started.
although there were lots of 16 bit apps for 95 still.
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|Apple business model is controlling everything. That's why Mac never take off. As far as iPod, they spent a great deal of money marketing. Is iPod the hottest mp3 player out there? HELL NO, there are better looking players that are smaller with more function, and not to mention cheaper. The reason why iPod is such a hot item is Steve Jobs sell you the idea of owning the iPod = kool. How much does "kool" worth? Priceless
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|The IPod isnt the best player, but its the #1 MP3 player. Its much like the Sony Walkmen in the 80s and 90s. Even though everyone didnt own a Sony Walkmen your portable tape player was still called a Walkmen. I think Ipods look ugly, but I think they still own the largest part of the market share.
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|Way to go apple
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