Apple's Q3 Sales Numbers Are In - Great Results & Amazing Upcoming Products
Tonight, Apple issued a press release and held their third quarter financial results conference call. And, as now seems usual with Apple, they appear to be virtually printing money.
Besides the stellar iPhone sales (unaffected by the leak of the upcoming iPhone 4) that add up to some 8.4 million units sold (including 1.7 million iPhone 4’s), the iPad is also selling amazingly well. The iPad almost outsold the Mac this quarter, despite it being the Mac's best quarter ever. In total, Apple sold 3.27 million iPads, which is only 200,000 units less than the entire Mac division, as noted by Techcrunch.
Apple notes they were scared their 1M iPad per month forecast was too bold, especially considering that analysts claimed the iPad would sell 1M per year. However, they're still currently facing difficulties meeting iPad demand. As to the notion Apple limits production on purpose, it's apparently pure fantasy.
Altogether, over 100 million iOS devices were sold cumulatively since the iPhone debut in 2007.
Regarding the iPhone 4 antenna issues, the free Bumper program will cost Apple about $175 million. The topic is still very sensitive, as they refused to say whether they noticed any slowdown in orders. Tim Cook:
"let me be very clear, we're selling every unit we make. [..…] My phone is ringing off the hook from people who want supply"
That's all they conceded on Antennagate. Furthermore, Apple's massive server farm in North California (rumored to be used for more extensive Apple cloud services), should apparently be ready by the end of the year. Lastly, it seems like Steve felt the need to tease us a bit in these times of low expectations:
It was a phenomenal quarter that exceeded our expectations all around, including the most successful product launch in Apple’s history with iPhone 4. iPad is off to a terrific start, more people are buying Macs than ever before, and we have amazing new products still to come this year.” (Emphasis added).
What is he talking about? Anything besides the the iPod touch in the works? Maybe that MagicPad? Tell us what you think!
