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The Apple Core

Jason D. O'Grady & David Morgenstern

Apple reports Q4 2008 earnings (updated 3x)

By | October 21, 2008, 2:23pm PDT

Summary: Apple’s held its fourth quarter 2008 earnings conference call today. Highlights: Revenue of $7.9 billion ($6.22 billion in Q4 2007) Net quarterly profit $1.14 billion ($904 million in Q4′07) Net quarterly profit $1.26 per diluted share ($1.01 in Q4′07) Gross margin was 34.7 percent (up from 33.6 percent in Q4′07) International sales accounted for 41 percent of the quarter’s revenue iPhone [...]

Q4 - 2008Apple’s held its fourth quarter 2008 earnings conference call today. Highlights:

  • Revenue of $7.9 billion ($6.22 billion in Q4 2007)
  • Net quarterly profit $1.14 billion ($904 million in Q4′07)
  • Net quarterly profit $1.26 per diluted share ($1.01 in Q4′07)
  • Gross margin was 34.7 percent (up from 33.6 percent in Q4′07)
  • International sales accounted for 41 percent of the quarter’s revenue
  • iPhone and Apple TV generated $11.68 billion of “adjusted sales” and $2.44 billion of “adjusted net income”
  • Shipped 2,611,000 Macs (21 percent unit growth and 17 percent revenue growth over Q4′07)
  • Sold 11,052,000 iPods during the quarter (eight percent unit growth and three percent revenue growth over Q4′07)
  • Sold 6,892,000 iPhones (compared to 1,119,000 in Q4′07)
  • Grew revenue 35 percent
  • Generated $9.1 billion in cash in fiscal 2008
  • Targeting revenue of $9.0 to $10.0 billion
  • Targeting earnings per diluted share between $1.06 and $1.35

Steve Jobs joined today’s conference call and said that Apple outsold Research In Motion (RIM) in revenue (not units) last quarter after just 15 months in the market. Apple is now the world’s third largest mobile phone supplier, again in revenue, not units. The breakdown is:

  1. Nokia $12.7 billion
  2. Samsung $5.9 billion
  3. Apple $4.3 billion
  4. Sony Ericsson $4.2 billion
  5. LG $3.4 billion
  6. Motorola $3.2 billion
  7. RIM $2.1 billion

Jobs also mentioned that Apple will mark the 200 millionth App downloaded from the App Store some time tomorrow after just 102 days of being available. Over 5,500 apps are currently available in the App Store and it’s accessible in 62 countries.

Jobs also attempted to calm nervous investors by stating that Apple currently has $25 billion in cash in the bank and zero debt. He also mentioned that cash gives Apple stability and allows it to invest during an economic downturn and that during the last downturn they developed the Apple Retail Store.

The Apple press release has been posted and the complete conference call is available as a podcast in iTunes.

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Topics

Jason O'Grady is a journalist and author specializing in mobile technology. He has published six books on Apple and mobile gadgets and his PowerPage blog has been publishing for over 15 years.

Disclosure

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady is the creator and editor of O'Grady's PowerPage, which has been publishing mobile technology news since 1995. He maintains an advertising relationship with the following legacy advertisers on the PowerPage:

  • Amazon Associates
  • Google Adsense
  • Tekserve
  • Advertising on the PowerPage is brokered by a third-party agency (BackBeat Media) and he recuses himself from these negotiations.

Biography

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady developed an affinity for Apple computers after using the original Lisa, and this affinity turned into a bona-fide obsession when he got the original 128 KB Macintosh in 1984.

He started writing one of the first Web sites about Apple (O'Grady's PowerPage) in 1995 and is considered to be one of the fathers of blogging. He has been a frequent speaker at the Macworld Expo conference and a member of the conference faculty. He also co-founded the first dedicated PowerBook User Group (PPUG) in the United States.

After winning a major legal battle with Apple in 2006, he set the precedent that independent journalists are entitled to the same protections under the First Amendment as members of the mainstream media.

O'Grady is the author of The Nexus One Pocket Guide, The Droid Pocket Guide, The Google Phone Pocket Guide, and The Garmin nuvi Pocket Guide (Peachpit Press), the author of Corporations That Changed the World: Apple Inc. (Greenwood Press), and a contributor to The Mac Bible (Peachpit Press). In addition, he has contributed to numerous Mac publications over the years, including MacWEEK, Macworld, and MacPower (Japan).

When he's not writing about Apple for ZDNet at The Apple Core, he enjoys spending time with his family in New Jersey.

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