Apple profits hit $11.6 bln on iPhone-iPad sales

SAN FRANCISCO - Agence France-Presse

In this April 20 file photo, Baek Sung-min, 23, jumps in joy after purchasing a new iPad tablet computer at an Apple store in Seoul, South Korea. AP photo

Apple said yesterday it had raked in a profit of $11.6 billion in the first three months of the year driven by record sales of iPhones and iPad tablet computers.

Revenue for the quarter ended March 31 hit $39.2 billion as iPad sales more than doubled from the same quarter the previous year and iPhone sales surged 88 percent, the company said.

“We’re thrilled with sales of over 35 million iPhones and almost 12 million iPads in the March quarter,” said Apple chief executive Tim Cook.

“The new iPad is off to a great start, and across the year you’re going to see a lot more of the kind of innovation that only Apple can deliver.” Apple’s net income for its second fiscal quarter was nearly double that seen in the same three-month period a year earlier, when sales tallied $24.7 billion.

The Cupertino, California-based company released the third-generation of its market-ruling iPad tablet computer in March, meaning its blockbuster sales out of the gate have only begun to pump up Apple’s bottom line.

“Our record March quarter results drove $14 billion in cash flow from operations,” said Apple chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer.

“Looking ahead to the third fiscal quarter, we expect revenue of about $34 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $8.68.” While Apple gadgets were hot in markets around the world, demand was “mind-boggling” in China, where revenue for the quarter was a record-high $7.9 billion, Cook said in an earnings conference call.

Apple took in $12.4 billion in China in the six months that mark the first half of its current fiscal year, promising that the company will easily eclipse the $13.3 billion in sales in that country in the entire prior fiscal year.

“China has an enormous number of people moving into higher income groups, middle-class if you will, and this is creating a demand for goods,” Cook said.

“There is tremendous opportunity for companies that understand China, and we are doing everything we can to understand it.” Cook said that Apple had the “mother of all Januaries” that included tending to a huge backlog of gadget orders and launching the iPhone 4 in China.

Apple is scrambling to keep up with demand for iPads around the world.

Apple sold three million of its new iPads over the course of its first weekend on the market, and hunger for the devices has not yet abated.

“The new iPad is on fire,” Oppenheimer said. “We are selling them as fast as we can make them.” The tablet computers are being embraced by companies, schools, and governments as well as by gadget lovers, according to Apple.

Apple sold two iPads for every Macintosh computer sold in the education market while still reporting record Mac sales.

The U.S. Air Force allows flight crew members to use iPads to help do their jobs, and engineering and construction project titan Bechtel lets workers use the tablet computers in the field, according to Apple.
About three quarters of the world’s top corporations are either using or testing iPads, according to Cook.
Overall sales of devices running on Apple’s iOS mobile operating system have topped 365 million and the “ecosystem” of applications and accessories continues to blossom, according to executives.

Apple’s online App Store boasts more than 600,000 mini-programs tailored for the company’s coveted gadgets, with more than a third of those “apps” devoted to the iPad.

The iTunes online shop for music, films, and other digital content brought in a record-high $1.9 billion in revenue during Apple’s recently ended second fiscal quarter.

More than 125 million people are using the iCloud service Apple launched in October as a way for users of its devices to store music, pictures, video and other digital data online at the company’s datacenters.

Apple’s stock price reversed a losing trend for the day after the release of the earnings figures, jumping more than seven percent to $600.30 a share on the Nasdaq exchange.