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Showing posts with label October 20. Show all posts
Showing posts with label October 20. Show all posts

Apple Reports Fourth-Quarter Results

Apple has announced financial results for its fiscal 2014 fourth quarter ended September 27, 2014. The company posted quarterly revenue of $42.1 billion and quarterly net profit of $8.5 billion, or $1.42 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $37.5 billion and net profit of $7.5 billion, or $1.18 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 38 percent compared to 37 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 60 percent of the quarter’s revenue. Apple’s board of directors has declared a cash dividend of $.47 per share of the company’s common stock. The dividend is payable on November 13, 2014, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on November 10, 2014. “Our fiscal 2014 was one for the record books, including the biggest iPhone launch ever with iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “With amazing innovations in our new iPhones, iPads, and Macs, as well as iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, we are heading into the holidays with Apple’s strongest product lineup ever. We are also incredibly excited about Apple Watch and other great products and services in the pipeline for 2015.”


Lenovo BlackBerry Merger Rumor

Stop us if you've heard this one before — or actually, don't bother because we know you've heard this one before. One of Benzinga's sources claims that Lenovo is once again looking to buy Canadian smartphone pioneer BlackBerry, despite the fact that such talks reportedly went nowhere last year due to security concerns raised by both the Canadian and American governments.


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Apple CEO Tim Cook commented on the balance between supply and demand for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus during today's earnings call, stating that demand is far outstripping supply despite a satisfactory production ramp-up. Cook noted that available data makes it unclear as to when supply will catch up with demand, and that the company was "not close" to having a balance between supply and demand at the end of Q4 2014.



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Supplies for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have remained tight since the launch of both devices last month, as new iPhone 6 orders still show a shipping estimate of 7-10 business days while the iPhone 6 Plus is still showing a shipping delay of 3-4 weeks. It is worth noting that the iPhone 6 has been mostly available at Apple's own stores and other retail locations, while the iPhone 6 Plus has a constrained supply in-store.



According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Apple delayed plans to mass produce the larger 12.9-inch iPad in order to shift its resources towards the iPhone 6 Plus as it has remained unsatisfied with the production output from its suppliers for its larger iPhone. A report from earlier this month also stated that the company is shifting its production balance towards the iPhone 6 Plus which may gradually improve its supplies of the larger phone.


















During today's fiscal fourth quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that "obviously" the company is working on new products, but that he was going to keep things in the "cone of silence."
I'm not sure what to say. I'm not going to give any hints. We look at a lot of different things and we're fortunate to have a lot of creative people here that want to change the world and have a lot of great ideas.

Cook went on to say that Apple's "creative engine" had never been stronger and the company had never been more passionate, as evidenced with Apple's recent launches of Apple Pay and Apple Watch. Apple Pay, said Cook, is "classic Apple," with the company taking something old and outdated and focusing on making something "very elegant."



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Cook also extolled the virtues of Continuity, which allows Macs and iOS 8 devices to integrate in new and innovative ways. "Use your imagination and think about where Continuity goes," said Cook. He went on to say that it would be "incredibly important" going forward for customers.



Cook said that Apple's investors should look at what Apple's done and what it has delivered, along with the skills of the company. Apple is the "only company on the planet" that has the ability to integrate hardware and software at a "world class level" according to Cook, but the company always has "more ideas than resources" to deal with. He also said as a personal investor, he "feels great" about products that are coming up in 2015.



While Cook declined to mention what products Apple might be working on, rumors have suggested the company has several new devices in the works that could significantly boost future sales, including a 12-inch Retina MacBook Air and a 12.9-inch iPad, dubbed the "iPad Pro" by the media.


















Apple today announced during its earnings call that it sold 5.5 million Macs in the fourth fiscal quarter of 2014, which is the highest quarter ever for Mac sales. The 5.5 million Macs sold is up almost 1 million year-over-year and represents a 21% growth from 2013, creating $6.6 billion in sales. The company also noted that it sold a total of 19 million Macs for all of fiscal 2014, saying that sales were particularly strong for the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air. retina-imac-27

Apple launched updated models for nearly all of its Macs in 2014, aside from the redesigned Mac Pro which was released last year. The MacBook Air was updated in April and brought a price reduction along with slightly faster Haswell processors, while the MacBook Pro saw a minor update in July which also brought Haswell and Crystal Well processors that improved battery life. Last week, Apple launched a new 27-inch iMac with a high-resolution "Retina 5K" display, and updated the Mac mini for the first time in three years with Haswell processors and new Intel HD Graphics.



The company is also rumored to be working on a new 12-inch MacBook, which will feature a new ultra slim design and a high-resolution Retina display. Reports have suggested that the new MacBook will come in the iPhone color variants of Silver, Gold, and Space Gray, and will integrate fan-less internals with a Broadwell-Y low-power Core M processor along with the possible adoption of USB Type C. The 12-inch MacBook is said to be launching in mid-2015.


















During today's fourth quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that Apple purchased 20 companies over the course of 2014, including seven companies during the fiscal fourth quarter. Of the 20 companies purchased, some remain known, but many remain unknown.



Apple's biggest purchase of fiscal 2014 was Beats Electronics, which the company bought for $3 billion in May. With the acquisition, it gained Beats popular line of headphones, the Beats Music music service, and it took on Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, aka Andre Young, as executives.



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Other recent known acquisitions in fiscal 2014 include iPad-publishing platform Prss, book recommendation platform BookLamp, radio streaming app Swell, social recommendation service Spotsetter, and low-power display company LuxVue.



Last quarter, Apple announced that it had acquired 30 companies thus far in fiscal 2014, which brings the total number of acquisitions since last October up to approximately 37. While some of those acquisitions were known, many of Apple's acquisitions were kept quiet, going under the radar.



The technology from Apple's acquisitions will undoubtedly make its way into future products and updates, and details on its acquisitions may become apparent over time.



Earlier this year, Apple CEO Tim Cook said Apple was "on the prowl" for additional companies to acquire and that Apple is always looking at acquisition space to avoid letting "money burn a hole in our pocket."


















itunes.jpgDuring its financial results call covering the fourth fiscal quarter (third calendar quarter of 2014), Apple shared details on the success of its iTunes Store, which has become an increasingly important revenue source for the company in recent years, mainly due to the ever-growing popularity of the App Store.



$4.6 billion in revenue marks Apple's most successful iTunes quarter ever, up $2 billion from last year, and its $18 billion in revenue for 2014 is $2b higher than last year's $16 billion in total iTunes revenue.



According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, Apple hit an all time high in App Store revenue, with growth of 36 percent compared to Q4 2013. Apple has seen cumulative app downloads of 85 billion, up 10 billion since July. Along with "tremendous" growth in the App Store, the iTunes Store saw all-time record billings, up 22 percent year over year.



Overall, Apple posted revenue of $42.1 billion and a net quarterly profit of $8.5 billion, or $1.42 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $37.5 billion and net quarterly profit of $7.5 billion ($1.01 per diluted share) in the year-ago quarter.


















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