Apple holiday results underscore end of PC era
Record Mac, iPad and iPhone sales, and the company didn’t just exceed expectations. For example, whereas there was discussion about how many iPhones Apple sold, with the most optimistic estimates in the 35 million range, the company actually sold more than 37 million units. The Cupertino kids likewise well exceeded iPad guestimates, shipping nearly 15.5 million of their category defining mobile computers.
Industry analyst estimates of iPhone and Mac hinted that Apple would deliver stellar results for the fourth calendar quarter of 2011 — they didn’t disappoint.
“We’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs,” said Tim Cook. “Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline.”
Here’s a summary of the company’s announced results with additional details gleaned from cached conference call stream:
- • Revenue of $46.33 billion for a net profit of $13.06 billion, or $13.87 per share
— Versus $26.74 billion and net quarterly profit of $6 billion, or $6.43 per share last year
— Gross margin was 44.7 percent vs 38.5 percent in Q4 2010
• International sales accounted for 58 percent of revenue
• 37.04 million iPhones sold, up 128 percent y-o-y
• 15.43 million iPads sold, a 111 percent increase y-o-y
— See through exceeded sell in by about 200K
• 5.2 million Macs sold, up a 26 percent y-o-y
— New records for desktops and portables
— Asia-Pacific sales increased 58 percent
— 100 million Mac App Store downloads since launch
— Half of Macs sold at Apple Stores were to switchers, new users
• 15.4 million iPods sold, a 21 percent decline but ahead of expectations
— Over half were iPod touches
• Apple has $97.6 billion in cash and short-term holdings
See also: Listen to Apple’s Q1 2012 financial results conference call
To date Apple has sold more than 315 million iOS devices, moving 62 million in the last quarter alone. That said, the rest of the industry has yet to field products to compete effectively with the iPod touch and iPad — Apple owns those segments.
At best PC sales were flat worldwide in the final calendar quarter of 2011. Mac sales outgrew the planet, especially in China.
iPad sales were huge, highlighting the near complete failure of Android and other tablets. Yes, Amazon sold a few Kindle Fires, but nearly a quarter of those are still in the box.
And, yes, Apple blew past analysts’ iPhone sales estimates by about two million units. If the various estimates hold up, including Nielsen market data, the iPhone will have taken share from Android last quarter.
Yes, Apple’s results underscore the end of the PC era, highlighting starkly the malaise, decline and growing irrelevance of Windows. Or, as I’ve been saying for years, a PC is crap at any price…
What’s your take?
Related Posts:
