How Bout Them Apples!
Apple reported their September quarter yesterday and crushed financial expectations due to the power of iPod Mini. Net income was $106M vs. $44M a year ago. Overall iPod units sold were 2M units, up 500% y/y.
54% of the revenue was laptops, up 44% y/y. The iTunes business was up 370% y/y and the desktop business was actually down 7% y/y due to supply constraints of the G5 processor. Damn you IBM, damn you!
The company said the high-end dual 2.5ghz G5 PowerMac will still be in tight supply in the coming three months. iPod backlog in the States is down to 1-3 days, but there are significant delays overseas. Apple also plans to open 100 more stores by the end of year with 6 this weekend in the "Mini" format, which is half the current store square footage.
Apple's PC strategy was stated of focusing on the mid to high end of the market. The company said that is where the R&D will be spent as the low margin $500 business would not be very profitable for them.
