Apple soars!
Time to fire the analysts…! 
(Maybe, it’s PAST time…. )
Apple reported its best Mac and iPhone quarterly sales EVER!
Mac sales rose 17% from a year ago to 3.1 million units, a quarterly record.
Apple grew its personal computer (“PC” is too negative a term ) market share to a 15-year high last quarter. Gartner estimates that Macintosh made up 8.8% of personal computers shipped last quarter, while IDC estimated the figure at 9.4%.
iPhone sales grew 7% to a record 7.4 million in Apple’s fiscal fourth quarter. Apple is introducing iPhone to China this month! iPhones comprise 22% of the U.S. smartphone market.
iPod sales dropped 8% to 10.2 million for the quarter, even with prices cut in September.
Apple’s gross margin rose to 36.3% in its fourth quarter, from 34.7% last year.
Apple stock (AAPL) climbed 7% in after-hours trading, at one point hitting an all-time trading high of $204.
Stronger than expected back-to-shool sales boosted Apple’s numbers.
IMHO (in my humble opinion), the world is definitely getting smarter (and “people” ARE smarter than corporations). (Note added October 20, 2009: I really still believe that the choices people make for their homes will ultimately affect choices in their workplaces. So does the new Microsoft salesperson for Windows 7, who also SEEMS to suggest that the best upgrade path for XP users might be to buy a new PC! While you are out there shopping for hardware, you MIGHT want to consider Macintosh.) (Note added October 24, 2009: You really might! Trust me.)
For more details about Apple’s quarter, see the CNN Money and CNET articles, and the Apple report, itself. Congratulations to my friends at Apple and to stockholders everywhere.
(Update added October 20, 2009: For an encore today, Apple brought out a new iMac, a new MacBook, a new Mac mini, and a Magic Mouse!)
-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™
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