Apple back on form; blows away the estimates

I'm a bit surprised. The analysts estimates were, I thought, overblown. 

The numbers in brief:

Revenues: $46.33 billion

Profit: $13.06 billion (almost double that of the same period last year).

15.4 million iPads sold.

15.4 million iPods sold (how???)

37 million iPhones sold, an increase of 128% over the same quarter last year.

5.2 million Macs which represents a 26% growth over last year.

AppleTV enjoyed it's best quarter ever: Apple shifted 1.4 million units. Not bad for a 'hobby' project (though I still have no idea why anyone would buy this).

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/24/apple-announces-q1-earnings/

$46 billion? When people spend this much on gadgets, you have to wonder which sectors are taking a hit. It's not like people have more money to spend these days. Or are people just now in debt to their eyeballs? Or just eating more fast food to budget the cost of their toys?

@cbae: Well they just announces bad new for the UK Economy -- I suspect that our economy is down because all that money spent on iPads has gone to Apple

Herbie

@cbae: I can tell you one one sector that I know of, the Microsoft sector. For each penny that Apple makes, Microsoft loses.

I was on a train a week or so ago, and walked through a number of carriages. In every single one there were iPhones, iPads, Androids and Macbooks. I did not see a single windows device, and it dawned upon me just how much things are changing. I know some niners have shares in MSFT, which shows their proclivity when engaged is discussion, don't get me wrong I still love the platform, but if Apple release a new development tool suite like Visual Studio (they have the money) the development landscape could start to change. Especially if you consider that windows 8 for all intents and purposes is 2 or 3 years work, and is a way for force everyone to move forward, Apple could do the same, especially when they realise they are gaining market share to this level, and iOs will run on all their devices.

I think we are just a few years away from a typical business being all Mac, that isn't a design house.

1 hour ago, cbae wrote

$46 billion?

Yes, I'm stunned, quite frankly.

When people spend this much on gadgets, you have to wonder which sectors are taking a hit. It's not like people have more money to spend these days. Or are people just now in debt to their eyeballs? Or just eating more fast food to budget the cost of their toys?

Again, I have no idea. Either Apple is doing something right, or the recession is not as bad as the press is making it out to be. 

I think we are just a few years away from a typical business being all Mac, that isn't a design house.

Apple will have to radically change the way they do business for that to be the case though, at this point I would't put anything past them however. 

Enterprises want:

1) Clear, articulated propduct roadmaps with few surprises.

2) Long-term backwards compatibility and support.

3) On-site 24x7 4hr support.

4) Low-cost machines.

Apple, in part, has been so successful and so fast-moving on the consumer side specifically because they don't have to be beholden to corporate interests and their long expected product lifecycles.  Seriously gunning for the enterprise would present major challenges to the current Apple culture.

That being said, what a ridiculous quarter.  100 billion in the bank. 

Anyone else get the impression that the Windows8 beta will be likely the most significant software release from MS in the past decade?  It's astonishing to think how much is riding on this. 

I have a Macbook Air and an iMac, but I don't want an Apple closed ecosystem as my only computing future, hell no.

56 minutes ago, vesuvius wrote

I as on a train a week or so ago, and walked through a number of carriages. In every single one there were iPhones, iPads, Androids and Macbooks. I did not see a single windows device, and it dawned upon me just how much things are changing.

I've been travelling into London for the past year, and pretty much everything else has disappeared. I see more iPads than anything else. I did see a fella with a Windows Phone, but he also had an iPad. 

If Apple release a new development tool suite like Visual Studio (they have the money) the development landscape could start to change.

Well, bear in mind that Apple has no shortage of developers signing up for iOS and MacOSX, with a development environment that is, in my opinion, crap. There's supposed to be a team working on making Ruby a first-class citizen on the platform, but I don't see Apple adopting a language they don't control. My advice to them (like they need it)? Buy a language outright. 

I think we are just a few years away from a typical business being all Mac, that isn't a design house.

Dunno. Legacy has kept Microsoft rolling in cash for twenty years. Businesses need a really really good reason to throw all that out and go with a company that won't even give them a roadmap. Having said that, the number of IT contracts that are demanding Linux desktop experience is getting scary.

$46 billion though. Blimey

10 minutes ago, NitzWalsh wrote

*snip*

Apple will have to radically change the way they do business for that to be the case though, at this point I would't put anything past them however. 

Enterprises want:

1) Clear, articulated propduct roadmaps with few surprises.

2) Long-term backwards compatibility and support.

3) On-site 24x7 4hr support.

4) Low-cost machines.

Apple, in part, has been so successful and so fast-moving on the consumer side specifically because they don't have to be beholden to corporate interests and their long expected product lifecycles.  Seriously gunning for the enterprise would present major challenges to the current Apple culture.

Nope. The Enterprise will have to join Apple. Apple will not join the Enterprise, and I'm not sure that one needs the other.

That being said, what a ridiculous quarter.  100 billion in the bank. 

The iPhone division alone generated more revenue than the whole of Microsoft. When I think back to when Jobs had to go cap in hand to MS...

What the hell happened?

I have a Macbook Air and an iMac, but I don't want an Apple closed ecosystem as my only computing future, hell no.

No one should. Apple is like any company: without competition it will become slow and lazy. 

And who are these people still buying iPods???

Well, kids want them and Grannys want them, and seemingly so does everybody in between, anything else is a hard sell at the moment. 

Windows Phone is  great product and should be doing much better but Apple pretty much have things locked down (and anyone else is looking at Android at the moment).

Sheesh.  I wouldn't want to be a Windows Phone dev at the moment ... (wait a minute ...)

14 minutes ago, Ian2 wrote

Sheesh.  I wouldn't want to be a Windows Phone dev at the moment ... (wait a minute ...)

Well, I'm not so much of a fan of the Windows Phone as I used to be, but it picked up very sound reviews during CES. What it needs is more developer visibility. More showcasing.

The thing is, if Microsoft is actually doing things right, you'd never see a single Windows laptop on the train. People would have a Windows machine at work and at home, and all the data would be on the cloud, so there'd be no need to bring anything back and forth to work.

With Steve Jobs gone and Apple getting bigger the train is about to derail.  Only place for someone at the top to go is down.   This is the last and final surge for Apple.  Android is doing well and Windows phone slowly moving in.   When everyone has the same phone you get bored and want something new and better.  Anyone remember Blackberry.    How about Kodak?   I dont see the drive in Apple corporate to keep improving without Steve Jobs.   Microsoft on the other hand could use Bill Gates to return if they want to get some new ideas and drive.     I think a new player might emerge and I think Samsung will play a role in it.    Remember phones are only good for 2 years.

10 hours ago, Ray7 wrote

I'm a bit surprised. The analysts estimates were, I thought, overblown. 

The numbers in brief:

Revenues: $46.33 billion

Profit: $13.06 billion (almost double that of the same period last year).

15.4 million iPads sold.

15.4 million iPods sold (how???)

37 million iPhones sold, an increase of 128% over the same quarter last year.

5.2 million Macs which represents a 26% growth over last year.

AppleTV enjoyed it's best quarter ever: Apple shifted 1.4 million units. Not bad for a 'hobby' project (though I still have no idea why anyone would buy this).

 

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/24/apple-announces-q1-earnings/

 

The sheer amount of amazement in this thread should be a big clue as to veracity of these numbers.  If you read the press release, you'll notice it's a press release and recognize that press releases are chock full of completely accurate and wholly verifiable statements like:

"Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world"

Now they can afford to reduce their prices down to competitive levels and really take the whole market.  Suspect they won't do that though (greed will continue to win out)

Plus they will no longer seem like a luxury product for the elite if they drop prices, which will actually cause them to lose part of their customer base.

Not to mention that no matter how many people are buying Macs, Apple simply cannot scale the single producer model to cover the entire market and past attempts at licensing Mac compatible production have been a disaster.

5 hours ago, ScanIAm wrote

*snip*

The sheer amount of amazement in this thread should be a big clue as to veracity of these numbers.  If you read the press release, you'll notice it's a press release and recognize that press releases are chock full of completely accurate and wholly verifiable statements like:

"Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world"

 

 So what you're saying is that Apple is filing false financial statements?

Apple has some of the most conservative accountants in the business. For example, something has to leave the shop in the hands of an actual customer before it's counted as a sale. Other Tech companies like to count items as 'shipped', which could mean it's sitting on a shelf for months.

No, I don't doubt the figures, I am just a little bit stunned at consumer purchasing habits, that's all. I mean these are luxury items, and I thought we weren't supposed to have any money.