est from Apple"s Q1 2012 conference call
Apple on Tuesday posted a massive holiday quarter with record sales of more than 37 million iPhones, 13.5 million iPads and 5.2 million Macs. Following the news, Apple executives participated in a conference call with analysts and the press, and notes of interest follow.Participating in Tuesday"s call was Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer, and Treasurer Barry Whistler.
Highlights
Apple ended the quarter with $97.6 billion in cash, an increase of $16 billion from the previous quarter.
Oppenheimer said Apple executives are "actively discussing" potential uses for its massive cash hoard, but there are no specifics to share. But the CFO did say that the company is "not letting it burn a hole" in their pockets.
Cook said Apple made a risky bet on the high side for iPhone sales, and even that came short of actual sales. "As it turns out, we didn"t bet high enough," Cook said. "Our customers are loving iPhone, and we"re very happy with that."
1.5 million iPads already in use in education
More than 600,000 copies of iBooks Author have been downloaded since it was announced last week.
More than 3 million downloads of the iTunes U application for iOS since last week.
iCloud has more than 85 million customers
There are now 550,000 applications available for iOS, including more than 170,000 for iPad.
A favorable component environment led to gross margin of 44 percent. Cook believes that environment will continue going into the next quarter.
Apple"s iPhone business
iPhone unit sales were up 128 percent year over year, and revenue saw a 133 percent increase from the first fiscal quarter of 2011.
The quarter ended with about 6 million iPhones in the channel at the end of the quarter.
"Nearly all of the top companies in the Fortune 500 now approve and support iPhones on their networks," Oppenheimer said.
Companies are developing and deploying "mission critical apps" specifically for their employees.
New companies supporting the iPhone include Credit Suisse, Kimberly Clark, St. Jude Medical, Nike and Facebook.
Cook said Apple made a risky bet on the high side for iPhone sales, and even that came short of actual sales.
"As it turns out, we didn"t bet high enough," Cook said. "Our customers are loving iPhone, and we"re very happy with that."
Cook said the iPhone 4S was the most popular iPhone model during the quarter, beating out the also-available iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS.
Demand in China has been "staggering." Apple saw strong iPhone sales even in the last quarter, when the iPhone 4S hadn"t launched.
Apple"s iPad business
The iPad saw a 111 percent increase in unit sales from holiday 2010 to holiday 2011. Revenue from the iPad also saw a 99 percent increase year over year.
iPad was "extremely popular" with holiday buyers, Oppenheimer said, and the company remains excited about the market opportunity.
iPad sales exceeded Apple"s expectations, with sell-through exceeding sell-in by about 200,000 units.
"Unprecedented" iPad adoption in business, Oppenheimer said. Nearly all top Fortune 500 companies are actively using iPads.
iPad is also "extremely" popular with students and teachers. 1.5 million iPads already in use in education.
Apple"s App Stores
More than 600,000 copies of iBooks Author have been downloaded since it was announced last week.
More than 3 million downloads of the iTunes U application for iOS since last week.
iCloud has more than 85 million customers
550,000 applications available for iOS, including more than 170,000 for iPad.
The App Store has now paid out over $4 billion to developers.
Apple"s Mac business
Mac desktop sales were up 21 percent year over year, while revenue saw a 12 percent increase.
The MacBook lineup saw even more growth of 28 percent in unit sales, while revenue grew by 22 percent.
Mac sales growth of 26 percent compared to zero growth overall for the entire PC market. Oppenheimer said average weekly Mac sales were up strongly across the quarter.
Oppenheimer cited the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and iMac as the company"s top sellers.
Hard drive prices were higher in the quarter because of the flooding in Thailand. That"s expected to continue going into the next quarter, Cook said.
Apple"s iPod business
iPod unit sales were down 21 percent year over year, with a 26 percent decline in revenue.
Oppenheimer said total iPod sales were ahead of Apple"s expectations. iPod U.S. market share remains over 70 percent.
The iPod touch accounts for more than half of all iPod sales.
The CFO revealed that there were more than 140 million downloads of apps and content on Christmas Day.
Apple"s regional business segments
Apple saw its largest overseas growth in Japan, where revenue was up 148 percent from the same period in 2010.
Apple"s second largest region for revenue growth was the Americas, were revenue was up 92 percent year over year.
Apple"s retail business
New EasyPay checkout process with personal pickup have made it much easier for customers and Apple"s retail employees.
110 million people visited Apple"s stores last quarter. On average, the stores see 22,000 visitors per week.