Apple crushes earnings as usual, but misses outlook

Apple says it generated more than $20 billion in revenue this quarter after selling nearly twice as many iPhones as it did during the same quarter last year.

The iPhone manufacturer brought in $4.31 billion in net income, up about 70 percent from $2.53 billion a year ago. Its quarterly revenue jumped 67 percent to $20.34 billion, compared to $12.21 billion the same quarter one year ago.

The lion’s share of Apple’s revenue came from iPhone sales. The company shipped 14.1 million iPhone units, up from 8.4 million the last quarter and nearly double what it shipped in the same quarter last year. This was the first full quarter that Apple has shipped its newest model of the iPhone. Sales of the iPhone accounted for $8.6 billion of its revenue this quarter.

iPad sales were up 28 percent 4.19 million units shipped, compared to 3.27 million iPads shipped in its last quarter. Apple sold 3.89 million Mac computers, up 28 percent compared to 3.05 million Macs a year ago. And it sold 125 million devices that run its iPhone operating system, iOS, just last month.

iPod sales continued to fall as the iPad and iPhone have gained momentum. iPod sales were down 11 percent to about 9.1 million units shipped, compared to 10.2 million iPods sold in the same quarter last year. Apple recently refreshed its line of iPods this quarter, so it hasn’t had a full quarter with its new lineup of iPods — much like the iPhone had last quarter with the launch of its iPhone 4.

The company made the figures public today in an earnings call with analysts.

It said it has adjusted its estimates for the next holiday sales quarter ending in December and expects about $23 billion in revenue and $4.80 per share profits. Estimates from a number of analysts and financial firms estimated around $22.2 billion in revenue and $5.02 per share profits.

What this means is that Apple, a notoriously hard negotiator when it comes to suppliers, might be expecting a jump in the manufacturing price of its consumer gadgets. That could have implications for the entire consumer tech sector. Research in Motion is planning to release a tablet itself to compete with the iPad. Investors didn’t appreciate the news, sending shares down 4.7 percent to $302.96 in extended trading today.