Later today Apple may report highest quarterly Mac shipments in 22 years

“Apple Computer Inc. today may report higher fourth-quarter sales on back-to-school demand for Macintosh notebook computers and orders of new iPod models,” Connie Guglielmo reports for Bloomberg.

“Sales in the fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30 may have risen 26 percent to $4.62 billion, said UBS AG’s Benjamin Reitzes, Institutional Investor magazine’s second-ranked computer analyst. Profit rose 1.9 percent to $438 million, or 50 cents a share, Reitzes estimated. Apple may not report earnings in detail because it plans to restate results for backdated options, he said,” Guglielmo reports.

Guglielmo reports, “MacBooks, part of a new notebook computer line using faster Intel Corp. chips, may have propelled Mac shipments to a record 1.48 million units, New York-based Reitzes said. Less-expensive iPods introduced by Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs Sept. 12 boosted sales of the music players while the more-profitable Macs helped counter the lower iPod prices.”

Guglielmo reports, “Analysts on average predict sales of $4.66 billion and profit of 51 cents a share, based on 21 estimates in a Thomson Financial survey. Of 27 analysts tracked by Bloomberg, 23 recommend buying the shares and four suggest holding them. None say sell.”

“Estimates for Mac shipments range from 1.11 million to 1.51 million units, according to eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. This will mark the eighth straight quarter sales have topped 1 million machines. If Apple sold more than the 1.38 million units it delivered in the first quarter of 2000, quarterly Mac shipments will be at their highest since Jobs introduced the machine 22 years ago,” Guglielmo reports.

Full article here.

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24 Comments

  1. Gee, it was just a very short time ago that pundits and hand-wringers were lamenting that Apple had given up on the Mac. That its focus on iPod and entertainment was the its new direction. This ought to shut them up!

  2. Here’s a question for us:

    Is Apple the oldest personal computer maker still making personal computers?

    I’m guessing that they are the longest running maker, but would like to know from those more expert in these things!

  3. Is Apple the oldest personal computer maker still making personal computers?

    What about IBM?

    It would be nice if this was a Mac unit sales record quarter as it would give apple some very positive computer specific press going into the holiday season. Continued increasing unit sales and market share will ensure that this platform will be around for a long time to come…

    …even if Jobs decides to retire.

    Long live true choice!

  4. Macaday: Here’s an obscure reference.

    October 4, 1968:
    An advertisement in Science magazine by Hewlett-Packard introduces first programmable scientific desktop calculator, which Hewlett-Packard calls “the new Hewlett-Packard 911A personal computer”. (This is claimed as coining the term “personal computer”.)

  5. And this:
    (month unknown), 1969
    Honeywell releases the H316 “Kitchen Computer”, the first home computer, priced at US$10,600 in the Neiman Marcus catalog.

    May, 1969:
    IBM builds SCAMP, one of the world’s first personal computers.

  6. If Apple was giving up on the Mac, then why would they even bother to put the Intel processor in them? Why would they keep revising OSX? They would have left everything as it was and the Mac market would have completely died. That assumption by analist and pundents is totally rediculous!
    The Mac is back with an operating system that can’t be matched by anything including Vista. And next year with Leopard it will only move farther ahead giving Mac sales even more momentum. And if Apple can keep moving there prices slightly lower sales will increase even more.

  7. “Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.” –Popular
    Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949

    “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” –Thomas
    Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.

    “I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked
    with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a
    fad that won’t last out the year.” –The editor in charge of business
    books for Prentice Hall, 1957.

    “But what … is it good for?” –Engineer at the Advanced Computing
    Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

    “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” –Ken
    Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp.,
    1977.

    “The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who
    would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?” –David Sarnoff’s
    associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in
    the 1920s.

    “640K ought to be enough for anybody.” — Bill Gates, 1981

  8. “John, what about any assumptions by analysts and pundits?”
    To the Ampar impostor: Not bright enough to use an original name?

    I’m being stalked by a sad and pathetic troll pretending to be me. It’s not flattering. Children with alcohol problems and an internet connection should be better supervised than this.

    So, you’re right, Fred. This is ridiculous.

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