In an un expected appearance on a conference call with fellow company officials and analysts, Apple CEO Steve Jobs once again dropped his company’s earning figures on the world. His address is now available on Apple’s website which was a prepared speech expressing the CEO’s views on Apple’s rival companies like Google and RIM along with the company stats.
The statistics revealed are no doubt impressive as Apple earned $ 20.34 billion in sales for its fiscal fourth quarter only and a net profit of $ 4.31 billion. This is a milestone in the company’s history as these are the best ever quarterly performances in its history. The breakdown reads like this:
• 3.89 million Macs, up 27% from the same quarter last year.
• 14.1 million iPhones, up 91% from the same quarter last year.
• 9.05 million iPods, a decline of 11% from the same quarter last year.
• 4.19 million iPads (which wasn’t available last year)
While celebrating the above achievements, Jobs decided to talk about the company’s competitors and almost berated them in a tirade that is obviously the hottest topic online currently. Jobs stated that his company had moved past RIM’s BlackBerry in smartphone sales and it’s no longer a worthy threat.
I think it’s going to be a challenge for them to create a competitive marketplace. iPhone sales of 14.1 million were up 91 percent year-over-year, handily beating the 12.1 million phones RIM sold in their most recent quarter. We still have a few surprises left for the remainder of this calendar year,
he said.
Admitting that Android is a major competitor, Jobs still believed that “Open systems don’t always win”. This was a shot at the popular view that Google’s Android is an open and relaxed system while Apple is closed and controlled. He also noted that there’s a chance more Android-based units shipped than iOS units in the September quarter, but counting the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, Apple activates 275,000 devices per day, as compared to the 200,000 activations per day data that Google has suggested for Android.
Discussing the current craze of tablets, the CEO explained how most companies are not playing the game right and hence can’t compete with the iPad. He rejected all 7 inch tablets as useless, calling them “tweeners” — too big to compete with a smartphone, too small to compete with an iPad. This should mean that there isn’t going to be a 7 inch iPad. Apple is sticking to 10 or 9.6 inch tablet size as it makes for a good touch screen experience on a tablet. Going smaller means making elements and objects too close together and less easy to target.
Apple’s next media event is tomorrow (20th October) and it’s called “Back to the Mac”. It remains to be seen whether Steve Jobs makes another appearance at the event as he usually conducts them himself. His appearance on the conference call yesterday gave him a chance to say all the above before tomorrow’s event and get it out of the way. This way the Mac event will focus on the company’s new offerings which are obviously going to bring a new wave of sales, hence proving its CEO’s claims and declarations correct.
You Might Also Like:
Like this post? Post Comment and Subscribe RSS