Archive for October 19th, 2011

Yesterday Apple’s current CEO Tim Cook reported that iPhone sales fell short of expectations at 17.07 million units in the fourth fiscal quarter. iPhone sales dropped by 2.4 million. Record iPhone sales for the current quarter would come in above the 20.34 million units set in the third fiscal quarter (second calendar quarter) of this year.

Decline in iPhone sales, as Cook noted, caused by various rumors related to the Apple’s smartphone, especially, when Apple missed its usual June introduction of new hardware. Most of the rumors were about a dramatically redesigned "iPhone 5" offering a larger but thinner design than the current iPhone. Such rumors were incorrect and Apple might still be working on the iPhone 5.

Yesterday Apple posted financial results for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011 and the full fiscal year. The company posted record-breaking revenue of $28.27 billion and net quarterly profit of $6.62 billion, or $7.05 per diluted share. Gross margin was 40.3 percent. Apple now has $81.57 billion in cash and marketable securities.

For the 2011 fiscal year, Apple reported revenue of $108.25 billion and net profit of $25.92 billion, or $27.68 per diluted share. Gross margin for the year was 40.5 percent and Apple's yearly profit and revenue were company records with Apple reporting more than $100 billion in yearly revenue for the first time ever.

Apple shipped 4.89 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, sold 17.07 million iPhone, up 21 percent from the year-ago quarter, and the company also sold 6.62 million iPods during the quarter, representing 27 percent unit decline over the year-ago quarter. Apple also sold 11.12 million iPads during the quarter, up 166 percent over the year-ago quarter. Apple also announced over 6 million copies of Lion had been downloaded through the Mac App Store since July 20th (when the operating system went on sale), with Mac users approaching 60 million worldwide.

In the first fiscal quarter of  2012 (the third calendar quarter) Apple expects to gain revenue of $37 billion.

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As Taiwan’s United Daily reports (via Unwired View), Apple received samples of 7.85-inch displays with the 1024x768 resolution of current iPads. LG Display and AU Optronics send these samples to Apple, which is reportedly set to launch the "iPad mini" early 2012.

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