Apple Finishes Quarter Up by 77 Percent as Rumors Fly about iPad 2
Apple, far from being hit low by news of CEO Steven Jobs' medical leave of absence, reported that first quarter profits rose more than 77 percent to $6 billion, driven by record sales in three of its four major product categories. The Cupertino-based company posted record revenue of $26.74 billion for the three-month period ended Dec. 25, 2010, or more than $2 billion above consensus estimates. The results compare to revenue of $15.68 billion and net quarterly profit of $3.38 billion in the year-ago quarter.
“We had a phenomenal holiday quarter with record Mac, iPhone and iPad sales,” said Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs in a press release. “We are firing on all cylinders and we’ve got some exciting things in the pipeline for this year including iPhone 4 on Verizon which customers can’t wait to get their hands on.”
Stocks were sharply down at the beginning of the day for Apple following news of Jobs' leave of absence, but as the day went on and news of the quarterly profits became known, the stock began to rise in price again.
Also, bits and pieces of rumors are already starting to lead out about iPad 2 and iPhone 5. After an article was published at Technorati about the new iPhone 4 CDMA phone that would be available Feb. 20 at Verizon carriers, Android fans left comments about how Android phones were superior because they would have "dual processors." Well, it looks like iPhone 5 will have the exact same thing thanks to its new A5 chip, Apple's successor to the A4, which powers current Apple products.
The A5 is a system-on-a-chip, consisting of two different parts. The technicalities of the chip are too difficult to get into here, but they rival that of Android and allow for improved graphics display. iPad 2 has the potential to switch to quadruple the pixel count of its predecessor. A speedier graphics processor—allegedly double the power of the SGX535 that powers Apple's A4-based products—would boost apps and games. Video playback would be improved, and FaceTime, which will be new to iPad, will come in loud and clear.
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