iPhones And Macs Helps Apple Post Strong Sales

Apple posted strong sales and revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2010, buoyed by strong sales of both Macs and iPhones.

Although Apple executives declined to break out exact sales numbers for Apple’s newest flagship product, the iPad, they indicated during an April 20 earnings call that sales for the tablet PC were likewise strong. 

Apple posted revenue of $13.50 billion (£8.8bn) and a net quarterly profit of $3.07 billion, handily beating some Wall Street estimates of $12 billion, and a sizable increase from the revenues of $9.07 billion and net profit of $1.67 billion reported for the same quarter a year ago.

Driving those numbers were the sale of 2.94 million Macs—a year-over-year increase of 33 percent—and 8.75 million iPhones. As expected by analysts, and continuing a downward trend, the number of iPods sold declined year-over-year by 1 percent, to about 10 million units for the quarter.

With regard to iPad, “we’re extremely pleased with the sales results,” Apple chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer said during the earnings call. “We think the market for the iPad to be large and plan to capitalize on our first mover advantage.”

Oppenheimer also characterised the company as “enthusiastic” about the iPhone OS 4 due for release this summer. The newest edition of Apple’s smartphone operating system will include features such as multitasking and an “iAd” advertising platform for mobile apps.

Although not present on the earnings call, Apple CEO Steve Jobs issued a 20 April statement touting the company’s numbers: “We’re thrilled to report our best non-holiday quarter ever, with revenues up 49 percent and profits up 90 percent. We’ve launched our revolutionary new iPad and users are loving it, and we have several more extraordinary products in the pipeline for this year.”

One of those products may not seem quite so much a secret anymore; Apple also acknowledged in a 19 April letter to the tech blog Gizmodo that a smartphone prototype, allegedly left by accident in a bar near San Jose, did in fact belong to the company.

“It has come to our attention that Gizmodo is currently in possession of a device that belongs to Apple,” Bruce Sewell, senior vice president and general counsel for Apple, wrote in that missive to Brian Lam, Gizmodo’s editorial director. “This letter constitutes a formal request that you return the device to apple. Please let me know here to pick up the unit.”

That device, immediately christened the iPhone 4G by the media, including a front-facing video chat camera, a back camera with flash, support for micro-SIM, a high-resolution display, and a larger battery. Gizmodo’s 19 April breakdown of the device, which supposedly came into the blog’s possession after a bar patron found it on a stool, can be found here.

Although Apple executives on the earnings call declined to break out iPad numbers, previous announcements by the company suggested that some 500,000 iPads had been shipped during the device’s first week of release. During an April 8 news conference at the company’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters, ostensibly to unveil the iPhone OS 4, Steve Jobs indicated that some 600,000 iBooks and 3.5 million iPad applications had been downloaded since the tablet PC’s 3 April launch.

During a question-and-answer session following the earnings call, Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook declined to comment on whether iPad sales would begin to have an impact on sales of Macs and other company products. “We don’t have enough experience,” he told an analyst. “We’ll see how it goes. We’re thrilled with sales of the iPad, they’ve exceeded expectations.”

Cook also seemed positive on AT&T’s ability to support data demand from Apple users on their network. “I think they continue to work very, very hard,” he said. “They’ve made some big strides in some areas and I think that will continue.”