Apple on Monday reported a blowout fiscal 2010 first quarter ended December 26, 2009 and Steve Jobs said annualising quarterly revenue, Apple is now a $50+ billion company.
Apple reported a quarterly profit of $3.38 billion, or $3.67 a share, up from $2.26 billion, or $2.50 a share, a year earlier. Revenue jumped to $15.68 billion from $11.88 billion.
The consumer technology leader, is expected to announce a new tablet size device on Wednesday.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the device will feature a 10- to 11-inch touch screen and a virtual keyboard. Apple, which appears to be aiming to change the way traditional content like magazines, newspapers and books are presented, plans to ship the tablet in March. Apple has been in discussions with various media providers, including publishers
The New York Times says:"Almost all media companies have run aground in the Internet Age as they gave away their print and video content on the Web and watched paying customers drift away as a result.
People who have seen the tablet say Apple will market it not just as a way to read news, books and other material, but also a way for companies to charge for all that content. By marrying its famously slick software and slender designs with the iTunes payment system, Apple could help create a way for media companies to alter the economics and consumer attitudes of the digital era.
This opportunity, however, comes with a sizable catch: Steven P. Jobs.
Mr. Jobs, the chief executive, made Apple the most important distributor of music by imposing its own will on the music labels, bullying them into accepting Apple’s pricing and other terms. Apple sold lots of music, but the music labels claimed that iTunes had destroyed the concept of the album and damaged their already deteriorating bottom lines."
In the the October-through-December period after selling twice as many iPhones and 33 percent more Macintosh computers as the year before.
Apple sold 8.7 million. Mac sales were also robust and 21 million iPods Apple were - - an 8 percent decline,
“If you annualize our quarterly revenue, it’s surprising that Apple is now a $50+ billion company,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we’re really excited about.”
“We are very pleased to have generated $5.8 billion in cash during the quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO.“Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue in the range of about $11.0 billion to $11.4 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about $2.06 to $2.18.”
