Yesterday, Apple released the results for its 2011 fiscal first quarter (which ran from September 26, 2010 to December 25, 2010) and held a call with analysts to discuss the results. The results were amazing, beating the expectation of every Apple expert analyst who I saw make a prediction before yesterday. And as has often been the case since 2007, iOS devices including the iPhone and iPad dominated the discussion.
If you want to hear the full call yourself, you can download it from iTunes or you can read the transcript provided by Seeking Alpha. Apple's press release is here. Here are the iPhone-related highlights of the call:
- The fiscal Q1 quarter includes the holiday shopping season, and thus it has traditionally been the best quarter for Apple, especially since the iPod became popular and Apple became even more of a consumer electronics company. But even though the prior first quarters have been great, this was the best ever, with Apple seeing record revenue of $26.7 billion and record net profit of $6 billion. Over $10 billion of that revenue was from the iPhone and over $4.4 billion was from the iPad.
- Apple sold a record 16.2 iPhones last quarter, plus around 10 million iPhone touch devices. (Over half of total iPod sales were of the iPod touch variety. The other half included the sale of that iPod nano that my wife bought me for Christmas. Thanks, honey!) And Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said that demand still exceeds supply; Apple could have sold even more iPhones last quarter if they could have made more.
- Apple also sold a record 7.3 million iPads. That means that Apple sold 14.8 million iPads in 2010, the year that the iPad was introduced. That's some introduction.
- Just to emphasize the importance of iOS devices to Apple, 75% of Apple's revenue came from iOS devices (including 13% from the iPod, 17% from the iPad and 39% from the iPhone). Mac revenue was at a record high last quarter (which includes the 13" MacBook Air that I bought my wife for Christmas; you're welcome, honey!), and yet was still only 20% of Apple's revenue.
- To date, Apple has sold around 160 million iOS devices, which includes around 145 million iPhones and iPod touch devices.
- The iPhone is available on 185 carriers in 90 countries. Apple COO Tim Cook said that every time that Apple adds a carrier in a country, iPhone sales go up. And of course, Apple just added Verizon in the U.S., so ... well, you can do the math.
- The iPhone continues to do well in big companies. 88% of the Fortune 100 is deploying the iPhone, and large companies such as Wells Fargo, DuPont, Staples, Starbucks and Nissan are making iPhones available to employees.
- Apple saw an average of $625 for every iPhone sold and an average of $600 for every iPad sold. People think of the iPad being more expensive than the iPhone, and while that is true for consumers because phone carriers subsidize the price of the iPhone, from Apple's standpoint they are about the same.
- There are over 300,000 apps on the App Store, and Apple is about to see the 10 billionth app downloaded. (Whoever does so wins a big prize, so start your downloading now!)
- Apple wouldn't predict how many iPads it would sell in the future, but did note that an independent company (IDG) predicts that the tablet market will quadruple in 2 years. Assuming that Apple continues to lead that market with the iPad, that is a lot of potential for iPad sales in the future.
- Tim Cook noted that in 2005, Apple entered into long-term agreements with flash memory manufacturers to ensure that Apple would be able to get the supplies that it would need for devices like the iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air. Cook then noted that last year Apple identified another key component (he wouldn't say which one) and that Apple entered into similar long-term agreements. (My guess is that this was for the touchscreens used on the iPhone and iPad, but who knows, perhaps it is for the battery or some other key component.)
Perhaps best of all, it appears that the future is bright. Tim Cook said that "in my view, Apple is doing its best work ever" and "we are all very happy with the product pipeline. And the team here has an unparalleled breadth and depth of talent and a culture of innovation that Steve has driven in the company, and excellence has become a habit. And so we feel very, very confident about the future of the company." You expect that sort of optimistic outlook from any chief executive at a company, but given Apple's success with the iPhone and iPad, it really does seem that for the iPhone, the iPad, and Apple in general, the best is yet to come.
