Apple beats analyst estimates again, sells 3.27M iPads

Apple continued to beat predictions with its earnings report today, which covered the quarter ending June 26.

Wall Street analysts estimated the company would report $14.75 billion in revenue and earnings of $3.11 per share, which would have been a substantial increase over Apple’s numbers from the same quarter last year ($9.73 billion in revenue and earnings of $2.01 per share). Nonetheless, the estimates were too low, as they have been in previous quarters — Apple actually brought in $15.7 billion in revenue and earned $3.51 per share.

Sales of most Apple products also rose substantially:

• The company sold 3.47 million Macs, up 33 percent from a year ago. Apple says that’s a new quarterly record.
• It sold 8.4 million iPhones, up 61 percent. (The iPhone 4 launched on June 24, so this report should include the first few days of sales.)
• It sold 9.41 million iPods, down 8 percent.
• It launched the iPad and sold 3.27 million of them

“It was a phenomenal quarter that exceeded our expectations all around, including the most successful product launch in Apple’s history with iPhone 4,” Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said in the earnings press release. “iPad is off to a terrific start, more people are buying Macs than ever before, and we have amazing new products still to come this year.”

As of 1:59pm Pacific, Apple stock was up 2.96 percent to $259.35 in after-hours trading.