Record iPhone sales drive blowout quarter for Apple

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By BRANDON BAILEY

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple had another blowout quarter thanks to its new plus-sized iPhones, which helped the company smash sales records for the holiday season.

Apple said Tuesday that it sold 74.5 million iPhones during the three months that ended Dec. 31, beating analysts' expectations for the latest models of Apple's most popular gadget, introduced in September.

The surge in iPhone sales drove the company's total revenue to $74.6 billion, up 30 percent from a year earlier. CEO Tim Cook said on a call with analysts that demand for the phones was "staggering," and noted that results would have been even higher if not for the impact of the strong dollar on overseas sales. Net income rose 38 percent to $18 billion, as Apple reported earnings of $3.06 a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting earnings of $2.60 a share on revenue of $67.39 billion.

Apple also forecast revenue for the current quarter between $52 billion and $55 billion. The midpoint of that range is just below the average analyst estimate of $53.6 billion for the period ending in March, when sales typically fall from their holiday season peak. Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said in an interview that revenue for the current period will increase between 14 and 20 percent from a year ago, despite the strong dollar, which has forced other companies such as Microsoft to lower their forecasts.

FULL story at link.



In this Saturday, Jan. 3, 2015 photo, shoppers walk by the Apple Store along the the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Calif. Apple Inc. reports quarterly financial results on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150127/us-tec--apple-iphone_smash-46c81efa53.html

[project_bluebook]

1. Great news

for China.

[former9thward]

3. Great news for Americans.

They are the ones who buy most Apple products.

[onehandle]

4. Great news ...for over 1 million Americans who make their living thanks to Apple.

Over 627,000 thanks to the iPhone alone.

https://www.apple.com/about/job-creation/

[project_bluebook]

7. I could make a ton of money too

If I used slave labor to make my products. Apple is no American hero.

[onehandle]

8. Where was what you are posting on manufactured?

Wait... I got this one.

[Codeine]

14. I'm sure you're posting from an artisanal,

hand-made computer or smartphone made from 100% recycled, Fair Trade, cage-free, vegetarian-fed components assembled by union workers in the USA, yes?

Yeah, I didn't think so.

[yeoman6987]

2. I bought 2 IPhone 6 over Christmas

Glad to see they are doing well. My next purchase is to update my MACbook which is 4 years old.

[onehandle]

5. Got a 6 for my wife and a 6 Plus for myself.

Next is Apple Watch then a Retina MacBook Pro to replace my 5.5 year old one.

[yeoman6987]

10. That is great!

The watch is interesting but I find the screen might be to small for me to do anything notable. I was glad they finally gave us a bigger screen on the phones.

[FLPanhandle]

6. Apple can thank my family

Over Christmas we bought 2 iMac Airs and 2 iPhone 6's.

They owe me!

[brooklynite]

9. Thank you indeed...

I bought my stock at an effective price of 65c...

[former9thward]

12. You always love to tell us how rich you are, don't you?

You are "your resident 1%er" as you put it in another post. I can see why you have the avatar you use.

[brooklynite]

13. Think you're going to find that a lot of "the 99%" like Hillary as well

[we can do it]

11. We upgraded to 2 iphone6's here.

[Codeine]

15. The release of the iPhone 6

means I can upgrade to a 5 for free soon. I'm stubborn about always being one iteration behind on phones. My fiancée gets the new models as soon as they release, of course.

[PasadenaTrudy]

16. I'll upgrade in March

Not sure if I'll go with a 6 or 6+ yet.

[jakeXT]

17. Apple’s Q Reveals the Perils of Earnings Predictions

Apple’s first-quarter earnings were blow-out numbers. Far beyond what anyone forecast, the figures show Apple arguably had the single-greatest quarterly performance in U.S. corporate history.

A quick overview: Apple’s net profit of $18 billion is an astonishing gain of 38 percent over the already-huge $13.1 billion in the same quarter last year. (So much for the law of large numbers.) Earnings per share rose 48 percent on revenue of $74.6 billion, up a staggering 30 percent.

How did Apple rack up such gigantic sales numbers? It begins with the company’s flagship product, the iPhone. It sold an astonishing 74.5 million of them in the quarter, a gain of 46 percent from the same quarter a year earlier. What’s more, the phones sold for an average of $687. (The Wall Street Journal calculated that Apple sold 34,000 phones an hour, 24/7.)

Revenue in China rose 70 percent to $16.1 billion, making it Apple’s third-largest market by sales, after the U.S. and Europe. In the near future, China will probably overtake Europe as Apple’s second-biggest market. At the risk of extrapolating to infinity, it isn’t hard to imagine the day when China also surpasses the U.S. as Apple’s biggest market.


http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2015/01/apples-q-reveals-the-perils-of-earnings-predictions/

[corkhead]

19. Nobody seems to mention or remember that IOS 8 broke a lot of people's phones

I am sure there was a hefty bonus for whomever came up with this brilliant scheme to force the purchase of new phones.

[elias49]

20. Americans just can't WAIT to spend money!

Gotta have the newest iteration
gotta get that 15th update
gotta 'upgrade' to Windows 10



And people wonder why we can't feed our kids.