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 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:
- Nokia $12.7 billion
- Samsung $5.9 billion
- Apple $4.3 billion
- Sony Ericsson $4.2 billion
- LG $3.4 billion
- Motorola $3.2 billion
- 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.