iPhone Helps Apple Generate Huge Profits

When the eagerly awaited Apple iPhone was launched in the US in June, dedicated shoppers slept outside Apple stores to get their hands on one. In fact, 1.12 million iPhones were sold in just 74 days, making it the third best selling phone in America. The huge success of this phone was one of the reasons that Apple was able to report a massive 67% rise in profits in the three months preceding the end of September.

Analysts were expecting Apple to post encouraging results and shares in the company had gone up 2.3% in anticipation of the news. However, at $904 million – compared with $542 million the previous year - the profits were even stronger than expected.

Analysts, such as Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies, believe the success of the iPhone - and the iPod - has reinforced the Apple brand and sparked interest in other products, particularly the iBook and Mac. Bajarin said: "More people are getting interested in Apple products due to the iPod and iPhone. That overall effect is just driving more and more people into Apple stores."

Indeed, the Mac seems to be a particular success story for Apple with sales remaining consistently high. Bajarin conducted his own survey of Apple stores and found “Mac sales continue to be strong, even in this last quarter.” Shannon Cross, an analyst with Cross Research, agreed with him. She said that Apple was “becoming again a Mac story,” before talking about the impact the Mac had on Apple’s fantastic figures. She said: “The iPhone is very important… but the Mac shipments were really strong and that’s what helped drive the upside this quarter.” In fact, with a huge 2.2 million Mac shipments, this quarter saw Apple exceed their previous quarterly record.

The iPhone is expected to be unleashed on the British market on November 9 and when it does, it is thought that Apple profits will soar once again.

Sources:

Guardian
BBC