Apple: More revenue in one quarter than Google will do in a year

To put Apple's $20 billion in quarterly revenue into perspective, consider that Wall Street is expecting $19 billion in revenue from Microsoft in the seasonally strong December quarter while Google is expecting revenue of $21.6 billion for all of 2010. Now Apple is projecting fiscal first quarter sales of $23 billion.

For its fiscal fourth quarter, Apple reported net income of $4.31 billion, or $4.64 per share on record revenue of $20.34 billion. Wall Street was expecting earnings of $4.08 a share on revenue of $18.9 billion. (Statement, Techmeme) For the full year, the company reported $14.01 billion in net income, or $15.15 per share, on sales of $65.23 billion.

iPhone sales saw 91 percent unit growth over the same quarter a year ago, with 14.1 million sold. The company said it also sold 4.19 million iPads during the quarter, a number that some analysts say could have been stronger if not for some supply constraints.

Even Macs, which are due for a refresh and likely will the topic of a news event later this week, saw a 27 percent unit gain from a year ago, with 3.89 million sold. The company also sold 9.05 million iPods during the quarter, an 11 percent drop.

Gross margin was 36.9 percent compared to 41.8 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 57 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

In a statement, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said:

We are blown away to report over $20 billion in revenue and over $4 billion in after-tax earnings—both all-time records for Apple. iPhone sales of 14.1 million were up 91 percent year-over-year, handily beating the 12.1 million phones RIM sold in their most recent quarter. We still have a few surprises left for the remainder of this calendar year.

Looking ahead to its fiscal first quarter, the company said it expects earnings of $4.80 per share on sales of $23 billion. Wall Street was expecting earnings of $5.07 a share for the first quarter of fiscal 2011 on revenue of $22.4 billion.

The company hosted a conference call to discuss details. On it, Apple CEO Steve Jobs popped in to offer some prepared remarks and field some questions from Wall Street analysts.

Shares of Apple were up slightly, closing at $318.00. Shares were slipping in after-hours trading.