Tim Cook Thanks Staff In Email, Holding Employee Meeting Today

Not long after Apple posted its third quarter financial results, chief executive officer Tim Cook emailed his staff, thanking them for their efforts and noting that he's "extremely proud of the collaboration going on across the company." In the email, below, Cook added that he's "happy to report that Apple's business has never been stronger," and that he'll be holding an employee communications meeting later today, at 9 a.m. PDT, in order to provide staff with a chance to ask any questions. These can be submitted in advance using the internal AppleWeb, Cook noted. Here's the email, which reached us from 9to5mac:

Team, We've just posted financial results for fiscal Q4, including record-setting iPhone sales. I am happy to report that Apple's business has never been stronger, and we are heading into the holidays within amazing lineup led by the new iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, the stunning iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display. You and your teams work incredibly hard to deliver the very best products in the world, and our customers simply love them. I'm extremely proud of the collaboration going on across the company and everything we've accomplished as result of this great team effort. Please join me for an employee communications meeting tomorrow at 9 AM Pacific time. The meeting will be broadcast to locations throughout Cupertino and Apple offices across the world. AppleWeb has a complete list of sites where you'll be able to watch live or see a replay in certain time zones. We've also created a link on AppleWeb where you can submit your questions in advance, and we'll do our best to answer as many as we can during the meeting. I look forward to hearing from you. Tim

Cook confirmed earlier that Apple had recorded a $7.5 billion profit during the third fiscal quarter of 2013, and that an impressive 33.8 million iPhones were sold during the period. Of course, sales of Apple's iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c are expected to increase in the near future, especially since the handsets are set to launch in additional countries on Nov. 1 and Nov. 15. Though iPad sales appeared to be leveling out, it's naturally expected that the introduction of Apple's iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display will result in a boost in Apple's tablet sales - even if the latter iDevice is facing supply concerns. As mentioned, Apple's employee communications meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. PDT later today. We'll keep you updated with further information as we receive it. In the meantime, see: Demand For The Second-Gen iPad mini Could Prove Too Much For Apple, Cook Warns, Blur Studio Updated With Saturation Control, Flickr Photos And Other Features, and Microsoft Gives Bing The iOS 7 Treatment Along With New Logo And Color Palette.