Apple, which is due later this week to reveal its next great invention, has reported its highest revenue and profit yet in its latest quarter, with revenues of US$15.68 billion and a net quarterly profit of $3.38 billion.
The company is now a US$50 billion a year player and according to CEO Steve Jobs the company is changing its revenue reporting standards to take into account sales of its iPhone – which are up 100pc – and sales of a mysterious new product out this week “which we are very excited about.”
This quarter’s performance is compared with revenue of $11.88 billion and net quarterly profit of $2.26 billion this time last year.
Gross margin was 40.9pc, up from 37.9pc in the year-ago quarter.
International sales accounted for 58pc of the quarter’s revenue.
Apple sold 3.36 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, representing a 33pc unit increase over the year-ago quarter.
The company sold 8.7 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 100pc unit growth over last year.
Apple sold 21 million iPods during the quarter, representing an 8pc unit decline from the year-ago quarter.
Apple changes reporting standards
During the quarter, Apple decided to change its reporting standards and elected for retrospective adoption of the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s amended accounting standards related to certain revenue recognition.
Adoption of the new accounting standards significantly changes how the company accounts for certain items, particularly sales of iPhone and Apple TV.
“If you annualise our quarterly revenue, it’s surprising that Apple is now a $50-billion company,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.
“The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we’re really excited about.”
Apple predicts that revenue in the coming quarter will nearly double, perhaps based on sales of the rumoured iSlate tablet computer rumoured to be unveiled on Wednesday, as well as sales of other Apple hardware and software products.
“We are very pleased to have generated $5.8 billion in cash during the quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO.
“Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue in the range of about $11.0 billion to $11.4 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about $2.06 to $2.18.”
By John Kennedy
Photo: Apple CEO Steve Jobs
