Kibbles & Bytes Blog

After the market closed on Monday, Apple announced fourth-quarter profits that were simply stunning. Net quarterly profits were up more than 46 percent to $1.67 billion, on revenue of $9.87 billion.

Apple sold 3.05 million Macs (the most ever in a quarter) along with 7.4 million iPhones (up 7% from the year-ago quarter) and 10.2 million iPods. iPod sales were actually down 8 percent over the past year, but this was expected as people move from buying iPods to buying iPhones.

Numerous analysts and commentators joked that someone forgot to tell Apple about the recession.

“We are thrilled to have sold more Macs and iPhones than in any previous quarter,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve got a very strong lineup for the holiday season and some really great new products in the pipeline for 2010.”

It’s interesting to note that Apple would have had even greater sales ($12.25 billion revenue and $2.85 billion of net income) if subscription-based accounting for the iPhone and Apple TV was eliminated. Subscription-based accounting is used to parcel out income from iPhone and Apple TV sales over a 24-month period from the date of sale.

One chokehold on growth is that demand for the iPhone 3GS currently exceeds supply. “Apple can’t build enough phones to meet demand,” said Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.

Analysts are quite bullish on AAPL stock, recommending investors buy in anticipation of a potentially strong holiday quarter. Gene Munster has maintained his overweight rating for AAPL stock and raised his price target to $277.

Apple’s new aluminum remote is now perfectly synched with their aluminum iMac line. Still $19.99 (or included with new iMacs), the remote features the same four directional buttons along with the menu and play/pause buttons.

Apple has shifted the placement of these buttons slightly, but other than that, it’s the same simple sleek remote you know and love with a shiny new finish. It would make a great gift for the holidays for your favorite media-lover…!

Today Apple quietly updated both the AirPort Extreme Base Station and Time Capsule Wi-Fi Base Station/wireless hard drive. Both feature improvements in antenna design that provide up to 50 percent better Wi-Fi performance and 25 percent better range than the previous-generation models.

Also, both devices are now certified to the 802.11n specification. Previously, they were certified to the draft ‘n’ spec.

Prices are unchanged for “AirPort Extreme”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/x/x/x/Apple|AirPort and “Time Capsule”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/x/x/x/Apple|Time_Capsule.

Apple unveiled the successor to their Apple Mouse (“formerly Mighty Mouse”:http://www.macworld.com/article/143202/2009/10/mightymouse_trademark.html) today: the *Magic Mouse.*

In keeping with Apple’s Multi-Touch technology on their notebook trackpads and iPhone/iPod touch screens, the new mouse does more than your average mouse.

In addition to the standard right/left click, you can use one finger to scroll across the surface, thus eliminating the scroll button found on the Apple Mouse. You’ll also be able to use two- and three-finger swipes, though no pinching to zoom.

The Magic Mouse now incorporates wireless (via Bluetooth) as well–there are no longer two versions to keep both the wired and wireless camps happy. (However, the wired version of the Apple Mouse still exists for those who prefer to keep things physically connected.)

I’m bummed about being forced to go wireless to stay with the newest generation of Apple technology, but I think I’ll soon find it’s worth the batteries. We’ll keep you posted with feedback when we receive them!

Apple’s new line of iMacs will feature the Magic Mouse and it will soon be available on its own, with a *$69* price tag.

“Watch a video about the Magic Mouse here.”:http://www.apple.com/magicmouse/#hero-video

Today Apple announced that the Mac mini has been upgraded with faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors across the board, and now also offers more standard storage and double the standard memory.

Starting at $599, the entry level Mac mini features a faster 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 2GB of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, a 160GB hard drive, five USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics and a SuperDrive.

The $799 Mac mini features a 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of memory and a larger 320GB hard drive, with an option to upgrade to a 2.66GHz processor with a 500GB drive.

For the first time ever, Apple is offering a server version of the Mac mini. This will be very welcome by the thousands of people and institutions that currently use the Mac mini in this capacity. The server version of the Mac mini is loaded with the full, unlimited version of Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server. This specially configured Mac mini also features two 500GB hard drives for a total of 1TB of internal server storage. All this in a tiny 6.5-inch square by 2-inch tall enclosure–the world’s most energy efficient desktop computer.

The server version of the Mac mini retails for $999.99. Snow Leopard server by itself would cost $499 from Apple (or “$449.99”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/74523 from Small Dog Electronics.)