Apple reports record Q3 sales, profits for third quarter

Ahead of its Q3 call, Apple has announced its earnings and sales information. Here are the highlights:

  • Sales of $28.57 billion — up 82 percent year-over-year
  • Net profit of $7.31 billion — up 125  percent year-over-year
  • 20.34 million iPhones sold — 142 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter
  • 9.25 million iPads during the quarter, a 183 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter
  • 3.95 million Macs during the quarter, a 14 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter
  • iPods saw a 20 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter, selling 7.54 million units
  • Cash flow from operations of $11.1 billion, an increase of 131 percent year-over-year
Steve Jobs, in the Apple press release:

We’re thrilled to deliver our best quarter ever, with revenue up 82 percent and profits up 125 percent. Right now, we’re very focused and excited about bringing iOS 5 and iCloud to our users this fall.

Here is Apple’s revenue, broken out into product lines, courtesy of Macworld:

Notes from the call:

  • Peter Oppenheimer: All time quarterly record for iPhone and iPad sales, all-time record for June quarterly Mac sales growth.
  • Oppenheimer: Revenue for the quarter was $28.6 billion. Year over year growth of 82 percent. Previous record was most recent December quarter. June beat it by $1.8 billion and almost $13 billion up year over year.
  • Mac OS X Lion launching TOMORROW, July 20!
  • Oppenheimer: 7.5 million iPods sold in Q3, compared to 9.4 million in year ago quarter. iPod sales above their expectations, with iPod touch accounting for half of all iPods sold.
  • 20.3 million iPhones sold, compared to 8.4 million last year.
  • That iPhone number is impressive for a year without a new summer launch.
  • iPhone in 105 countries, on 228 carriers.
  • 91 percent of Fortune 500 are deploying or testing iPhone — 86% of Fortune 500 are deploying and testing iPad.
  • iPad 2 sales very strong — Apple is selling them as quickly as they are built. Apple still below 4-6 channel inventory goals.
  • Over 220 million cumulative iOS device sales through end of June quarter. That. Is. Crazy.
  • App Store has over 425,000 apps available and over 15 billion downloads to date. $2.5 billion in payments to developers.
  • iTunes biggest music retailer on the planet — revenue up 36 percent.
  • Apple Stores seeing more and more traffic — 73.7 million visitors in June quarter. “Personal Setup” aided customers in setting up over 2 million Macs, iPhones, iPads, and iPods collectively.
  • Apple will open 30 stores in Q4 2011, including one in Hong Kong.
  • Apple’s cash (plus short-term and long-term marketable securities) equals $76.2 billion.
  • Several changes coming to accounting to mange digital content — beginning on June 6 deferring $16 of revenue for each iPhone and iPad sold and $11 for each iPod touch, recognized over 2 years. $22 of each new Mac sold. All for iCloud and future minor software updates.
  • Apple excited to ship Lion tomorrow; iOS 5 and iCloud in the fall.

Notes from call Q&A:

  • Apple expects to see growth in iPhone, iPad and educational Mac sales for September quarter.
  • Apple execs “have a future product transition” this fall, outside of Lion, iOS 5 and iCloud. As usual, analysts try to pry that open a bit, but Apple slammed the door.
  • Tim Cook: “Some customers chose the iPad over a new Mac, but we also believe even more customers that chose to buy an iPad over a Windows PC.” Apple isn’t too worried that the iPad is eating into Mac sales.
  • Greater China — mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan — has huge growth; year over year it was up over 6x. $3.8 billion in revenue in China alone. Tim Cook: “Apple is just scratching the surface.”
  • Tim Cook on patent legal issues: “Very simple view: Love competition, good for us and everyone, but we want people to invent their own stuff. And we’re going to make sure we defend our portfolio appropriately.”
  • iPhone growing in China and Middle East — areas that Apple hasn’t historically enjoyed success in. Tim Cook: “…it’s something that’s of great focus to us. Obviously working new relationships.”
  • Tim Cook: “Phone is up 142 percent year over year. This is more than 2x rate of growth of smartphone record. We think that’s incredible.”
  • Tim Cook: “We’re very confident. Customers ranks iPhone #1 in surveys. Also very confident in road map. Feel very very good. May have seen data from ChangeWave that reaffirmed that iPhone is clear leader in customer satisfaction and also #1 preference for people planning to buy smartphones in next 90 days.”
  • Tim Cook says the Apple TV continues to do well, but it is still a “hobby,” so people don’t assume it’s vital to Apple’s success. “We love the product, it’s clear that customers love the product. We really got it right when we went to the new Apple TV this past fall.”
  • Apple is happy with Retail and resellers, as well as suppliers, which Tim Cook called Apple’s “secret sauce.”
  • Supplies going into products have evened out in places. iPad supply way up, getting closer to meeting demand.
  • Tim Cook thinks iPhone can “compete with anyone,” even in low-end markets. $49 iPhone 3GS comes to mind.
  • Anticipation for OS X Lion slowed Mac sales a bit this quarter. New MacBook Pros earlier this year still selling very well, however.
  • Tim Cook: “We have a dual prong strategy with enterprise for iPad and iPhone. Work with carriers sales forces, and they have very large ones because they sell service to enterprise. Train and provide quite a bit of help to carrier forces. Plus do some sales directly ourselves, or act as an overlay sales force to a channel that sells to enterprise. Still building it out, and do a bit better each quarter.”
  • iPad in K-12 is huge. Cook: “Last quarter they sold more iPads in quarter than they did Macs. To do that after 5 quarters is shocking.”
  • Apple confident it can build iCloud on the success of iTunes and the App Stores (ahem, MobileMe?)
  • Cook: “We will only make products that we’re proud of, that are the best in the world. And if we can do that and the price is lower, then we’re great with that. iPod shuffle is an example, started at different price point and it’s now $49. So that’s always the question and the litmus test. We will only make products that we’re very proud of, regardless of the price analysis.”
  • iPad being used “10 different ways by 10 different people.”
  • More TV and movie content coming to iTunes all the time
  • That’s the end! Time to drink!

Source: Apple PR, Macworld

Stephen Hackett, formerly a Lead Mac Genius at Apple, now spends his days running the IT department of a large non-profit in Memphis, TN. He writes about Apple, design and journalism at forkbombr.net. Like all twenty-somethings, you can find him on Twitter. Oh, and he has a dogcow tattoo.