The Cupertino-based company, Apple, announced today financial
results for its fiscal 2008 second quarter ended March 29, 2008.
During this period, Apple 2,289,000 Macintosh computers, a 51
percent unit growth and 54 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter,
while quarterly iPhone sales were 1,703,000. During the second quarter 10,644,000
iPods were sold, representing one percent unit growth and eight percent revenue
growth over the year-ago quarter
In first financial quarter of 2008 Apple sold 2,319,000
Macintosh computers, 22,121,000 iPods and 2,315,000 iPhones.
Overall, Apple posted revenue of $7.51 billion and net
quarterly profit of $1.05 billion, or $1.16 per diluted share. These results
compare to revenue of $5.26 billion and net quarterly profit of $770 million,
or $.87 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 32.9
percent, down from 35.1 percent in the year-ago quarter. The figures surpassed
analysts expectations.
In an official comment about the results, Apple CEO Steve
Jobs also hinted about new products. He said Apple has a strong momentum to
launch “terrific new products” in the next quarters. Apple’s results should address
the fears expressed by some analysts that the iPod momentum is wearing off as
the market for media players is saturated.
Jobs’ comment could be seen as a confirmation of the widely
expected 3G version of the company’s iPhone. There are various reports that the
iPhone 2.0 could be unveiled in June during Job’s speech at WWDC.
It is believed that a 3G iPhone will boost the sales of
iPhone in Europe, a market in which Apple’s
gadget has failed to meet the expectations.
Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO, noted Apple expects revenue
of about $7.2 billion and earnings per diluted share of about $1.00 for the
third quarter fiscal of 2008. He also confirmed that Apple is confident of achieving
its goal of selling 10 million iPhones in 2008.
There were also rumors about Apple’s intention to launch its
phone in Asia, but so far nothing was confirmed
officially.
Earlier this month Wang Jianzhou, the chairman of China
Mobile, admitted that the company has not started formal talks with Apple
regarding the distribution of iPhone. But he didn’t ruled out the
company’s intention to become Apple’s distributor. He said that as long as the customers
want this kind of product, “we will keep all options open”.
Also, today Apple confirmed it has acquired P.A. Semi of Santa Clara, Ca., a
fabless semiconductor company which focuses on low-power processors. P.A. Semi
of Santa Clara,
Ca., a fabless semiconductor company which focuses on low-power processors.
P.A. Semi was founded in 2003 by Dan Dobberpuhl who was the
lead designer for the DEC Alpha and StrongARM processors.
