“Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPod get most of the limelight, but it was the company’s decades-old Macintosh computer business that defied a broad slowdown in consumer spending to deliver a 36% increase in profit,” Nick Wingfield reports for The Wall Street Journal. “‘The takeaway is the Mac business is on fire,’ said Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray. But, Mr. Munster added, ‘investors wanted more of the phenomenal revenue flowing through to the bottom line.'”
“The Cupertino, Calif., company’s Mac sales was further evidence Apple is resisting the weakening economy for now. Apple said it sold 51% more Macs in the quarter than a year earlier, with that revenue jumping 54% to $3.49 billion from $2.27 billion, about 47% of Apple’s total revenue,” Wingfield reports.
“In contrast, shipments of new PCs world-wide grew by only 12%, according to research firm Gartner Inc. While it is still a niche player compared with PC titans like Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co., Apple’s strength is helping it to gain share on rivals. Apple had 6.6% of U.S. domestic PC sales in the first three months of the year, up from 5.2% a year earlier, according to Gartner,” Wingfield reports.
“Apple said it sold 1.7 million iPhones in the quarter, in line with what many analysts were projecting. The product, from which Apple earns revenue from hardware sales and fees shared by wireless carriers, isn’t a big contributor to Apple’s current results, because Apple defers much of the revenue from the product over a 24-month period,” Wingfield reports.
“Analysts widely expect Apple to introduce a new iPhone that supports Web browsing at faster speeds by the middle of the year. Apple executives said a “significant” portion of its iPhone sales continue to involve consumers who ‘unlock’ the iPhone to work on unauthorized wireless networks, especially overseas in countries such as China, where the iPhone isn’t yet available from Apple,” Wingfield reports. “‘Our view continues to be this is a proxy for world-wide demand for the iPhone,’ said Tim Cook, Apple’s chief operating officer.”
Full article here.
OK, people. Macs make up 47% of Apple’s total revenue. Now, who here still believes they will license OS X?
“Now, who here still believes they will license OS X?”
Rob Enderle.