Apple’s 4Q-2010 financial results: Q & A insight

Our own Eugene Huo wrote some of the highlights of the fourth quarter financial results by Apple, but that was just the first half.

The second half of every conference call is the Question and Answer section of the conference call. There were a few things noted within the Question and Answer.

One of the most interesting facts that was announced by Steve Jobs is that 250,000 of the new Apple TVs have been sold. I am sure we will be hearing this number again on Wednesday. This is an astounding number for a product that has only been available for a few weeks. I believe that the $99 price tag is the key to this success.

The second thing worth nothing is that Steve Jobs said that 7-inch screens were not the proper size for tablets. Not because they can’t manufacture them, but because the size does not properly allow developers to maximize the space efficiently and get as many elements on the screen at one time as the 45% larger 9.7-inch screens.

7inch.Tablet.Bad.10inch.tablet.good

The second aspect he mentioned is that if you up the resolution on the 7-inch screens that users may not be able to accurately hit the element properly.

In regards to the soon-to-be released tablets, Steve Jobs also stated that the current crop of tablets that are coming out, particularly the Android-based group, are going to be obsolete because even Google is telling OEMs to avoid using Android 2.2 (Froyo), because it is not meant to be used on tablets.

The final interesting item, rather amusing actually, is one analyst asked if Steve’s stance on Flash has changed at all. He quipped, “Flash, we love Flash memory.”

One analyst inquired as to what Apple plans to do with its $51 billion war chest. Steve Jobs answered that they will continue to keep the cash on hand. He eluded to potentially doing something with the money by saying ‘couple of factors’ several times, but nobody would elaborate regarding the issue.

Overall, Apple is doing quite well. The do project a $23 billion quarter for October to December, which means that they have some big things planned for Wednesday’s announcement that will help in generating the $23 billion for the company.

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