This seems like a good time for Apple. What with Mac OS X Tigers and iTunes and iPods (oh my!) and whatnot getting a really good reception, there is something about Apple right now that says "we're here and we're going to rise to something great again." No wonder then that they have reported the highest revenue and earnings in their company's history.
Apple posted a net quarterly profit of $320 million, or $.37 per diluted share, and revenue of $3.52 billion. These results compare to a net profit of $61 million, or $.08 per diluted share, and revenue of $2.01 billion in the year-ago quarter, and represent revenue growth of 75 percent and net profit growth of 425 percent. Gross margin was 29.7 percent, up from 27.8 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 39 percent of the quarter's revenue.
As noted, the success of the iPod has been very important, but the impact of Mac OS X Tiger on sales of Macintosh® machines seems to be hard to miss. Several friends of mine have decided to take the plunge and go for a Mac, suddenly appearing with iBooks and the like and telling good stories about them. I myself have been known to linger in department store's computing sections wondering if I too could be converted...
