Apple achieved its all-time best quarterly results for its fiscal first quarter of 2010 with the help of huge sales of its iconic iPhone smartphones and Mac laptops during the holiday shopping season.The company sold a total of 8.7 million iPhones during the three-month period ended December 26. Although falling short of Wall Street’s expectation of 9 million handsets, the shipments more than doubled from the same quarter last year. In fact, there has been a steady increase in the number of iPhone devices sold worldwide since the fiscal second quarter of 2009.
The boom of iPhone popularity was fueled by its availability in several new markets, including China and South Korea. There have also been rumors that the flagship device will soon go to multiple U.S. carriers, allegedly Verizon Wireless or T-Mobile, a move that will likely further strengthen its momentum.
Another big moneymaker of the company was the Mac computer, which generated record sales of 3.36 million units during the quarter – up 33 percent from the year-ago period. On the other hand, the iPod, whose features are included in the iPhone, showed an 8 percent year-over-year decline in shipments to 21 million units.
The iPhone and Mac made up for the slipping demand for iPods, leading to the highest quarterly profit and revenue ever. In total, Apple posted revenue of US$15.68 billion for the quarter, a 32 percent increase from US$11.9 billion in the year-ago period. Net profit amounted to US$3.4 billion, which was 50 percent up from last year’s US$2.3 billion. Still, Apple has a conservative estimation for this fiscal quarter, expecting revenue to range between US$11.0 to US$11.4 billion.
Meanwhile, the company has just unveiled its new tablet computer, the iPad. Sporting a 9.7-inch display, the iPad gives users the ability to browse the Web, listen to music, watch videos, play games, read e-books and do a lot more. It comes with 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of flash memory storage for customers to choose from. This flagship device will probably lead to further growth in Apple’s financial performance.
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