Apple posted a profit of $7.7 billion on sales of $37.4 billion, with gross margin improving by nearly 3 points over last year. While iPad sales were a little disappointing with “only” 13.3 million units sold, iPhone and Mac posted good year-over-year gains.
It is interesting to note that in the 4 short years since the introduction of the iPad where Apple created a new market, they have sold over 225 million units in spite of voracious competition. They enjoy a 59% overall share of the retail tablet market, 70% of the dollars spent on tablets, and 85% of the education market.
Of particular note was the increase in year-over-year Mac sales with over 4.4 million Macs sold, representing double digit growth in many countries and an increase in Mac sales at a time when PC sales at other companies are generally declining.
The iTunes store is also doing well and represents about 12% of Apple revenue, according to one source.
iPhone was the driver, though, with 35.2 million iPhones sold, up by 4 million units from the same period last year. Tim Cook summed it up by saying, “We are incredibly excited about the upcoming releases of iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, as well as other new products and services that we can’t wait to introduce.”
Even with all the stock buy-backs and dividends, including the $0.47/share dividend announced, Apple has a healthy bank account with over $164 billion in the bank and has acquired 29 companies since the start of their fiscal year in October. That number doesn’t even include the mega-acquisition of Beats that will close this quarter.
Another fantastic quarter for the most interesting story in American business history. Congratulations to the entire Apple team!