Apple Reports First Quarter Financial Results: Best Quarter Ever

Published by Kelly Levinsohn on Jan 25th, 2012, No Comments

Apple has just announced its financial results for its fiscal 2012 first quarter which spanned 14 weeks and ended December 31, 2011.

Apple had $97.6 billion in the bank as of the end of its first quarter and that amount has almost certainly crossed the $100 billion mark by now. Apple sold 37 million iPhones in the quarter, more than Wall Street was expecting and the sales of iPads and Macs also beat estimates. Apple also posted twice as much revenue and profit as Microsoft did in its holiday quarter.

Apple CEO, Tim Cook announced that “We’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs. Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline.”

However, Cook did emphasise that the company can do even better. He was quick to point out that Apple had been struggling with shortages all quarter. Tragic floods in Thailand have led to poor availability for components across its devices, the company was not able to make as many iPhone 4Ss as it would have liked and due to the rampage in Mainland China on launch day, was unable to sell any new iPhones.

When asked about Apple’s success during his first four months as CEO, Cook was adamant about praising the work of his colleagues and that he was lucky to be surrounded by them. When asked to elaborate, Cook simply pointed to the company’s monster earnings to make his point. During a conference call with analysts Cook said “I think the team is doing a fantastic job. We feel really good about where we are.”

Apple’s quarterly iPhone sales, at more than 37 million smartphones, are numbers that its competitors would strive to have for one year, let alone a quarter and while recent data for the U.S. shows Apple alone nearly even with the entire Android world in market share, Cook doesn’t believe that Android is its only competitor.

As for which direction Apple is heading in the future, Cook stuck to the company’s standard secretiveness, although he did offer a few geographical insights. He confirmed that China, remains the company’s largest focus as an emerging market, with Brazil a distant second in terms of focus and investment. India saw its sales increase threefold from a year earlier, but from a very small base.

While Cook revealed no details about the rumoured launch of an Apple television, he said the company sold 1.4 million Apple TV units in the December quarter, as compared to 2.8 million devices for the entire prior fiscal year.

Sources: All Things D, Mashable, Apple Press Info

Popular Now: Kickstarter raises over $1 million for next generation iPhone dock