Apple released its third quarter numbers yesterday and by any benchmark they were impressive. Consider these numbers as reported by Macworld:
* $8.34 billion in sales and a net profit of $1.23 billion
* 5.2 million iPhones
* 10. 2 million iPods
* 2.6 million Macs (of which1.75 million were laptops)
It's impressive by any standards, but according to AppleInsider it represents the best non-holiday quarter ever. Think about that, then consider we are still in the midst of a massive recession, it's even more astounding.
So Much for Laptop Hunters
A story came out the other day that Microsoft COO Kevin Turner claims an Apple lawyer called him to complain about the 'Laptop Hunter' ad campaign. Let me file this under the "I find this very hard to believe," but in the age of digital media, the story found some traction. If it happened in the time frame Turner claims, one would assume that Apple had these numbers in hand, and unless the lawyer was acting on his or her own, I'm not convinced the incident ever happened.
If the Microsoft ads combined with economy are supposedly having such a dramatic effect on Apple's bottom line, how come they had such a successful quarter? I'm sure Steve Jobs is hoping that Microsoft's ads have an even bigger impact on his company next quarter if this the result.
iPhone and iPods
And while the number of Macs sold might have Lauren and her friends at Microsoft crying in their coffee, the combined numbers for iPhones and iPods were simply off the charts. Consider that combined Apple sold more than 15 million iPod and iPhones in a 3 month period: 15 million!
In fact, they can't even build iPhones fast enough to keep up with the demand. The BBC reports that Apple admits that demand is outstripping the supply, but they are working to correct the problem. They had better - since in the same BBC report, it says they plan to expand iPhone sales into another 20 countries next month.
Numbers Don't Lie (Usually)
I know that it's easy to spin numbers. I'm a writer, not a mathematician, and I can only report what I've seen reported in multiple trusted sources. They all point to one thing. Apple had incredible numbers. The company has to be thrilled that in spite of having Jobs offline for 6 months, and in the midst of the worst economic situation probably since the Great Depression, this company not only survived, it thrived.
So Lauren might look at the 13.3 inch Mac Book and dismiss it easily (or she might thinks she's not cool enough to own a Mac), but 2.6M other people disagreed. Sure, you can get a PC for much less money than you can a Mac, but people have shown they want these machines and they will pay for these machines. In this case at least, the numbers don't lie and they are amazing.
