MacCentral’s live update of Apple’s conference call with analysts has concluded. Please visit our home page for more Mac news.
Apple on Tuesday reported its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2005 earnings. The company posted revenue of US$3.68 billion for the quarter and a net quarterly profit of $430 million, compared to $2.35 billion and net profit of $106 million for the same quarter a year ago.
For fiscal 2005, Apple generated $13.93 billion in revenue and net profit of $1.335 billion, reflecting 68 and 384 percent, respectively — the highest annual revenue and net profit in the company’s history.
Apple says it shipped 1.236 million Macintosh systems for the quarter, along with 6.451 million iPods — 48 percent growth in Macs and 220 percent growth in iPods over the same quarter last year.
602,000 of those Mac units were desktop systems, including Power Mac G5, iMac G5, eMac and Mac mini systems. Apple also accounts for Xserves as part of its desktop computer sales. 634,000 units were laptop computers, including PowerBooks and iBooks.
Apple does not provide a per unit breakdown of iPod sales, but 6.451 million iPods is well ahead of last quarter’s record-breaking umber of 6.155 million. Apple reports that $1.212 billion of the quarter’s $3.678 billion in revenue was the result of iPod sales.
Oppenheimer’s preamble
Apple has sold more than a million iPod nanos within 17 days of the new player’s release, said Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer. There were 17 days left in the fiscal quarter when Apple released the nano.
The iTunes Music Store is the leading online music store in Japan, said Oppenheimer.
In the last quarter, 14.8 million visitors came to Apple retail stores — that figures to 9.8 thousand visitors per store, per week. The company expects to open 35 to 40 new stores in fiscal 2006, said Oppenheimer. The majority of them will be in the United States.
Oppenheimer said that for its first quarter, Apple expects $4.7 billion in revenue, 35 percent year over year growth.
Questions and answers
Responding to an analyst’s question about iPod nano availability, Apple VP Tim Cook called demand for the new flash-based iPod “staggering,” and said it’s a “key part” of Apple’s product line. He wouldn’t say when Apple will be able to keep up with demand. Cook added that that demand was consistent across every major geographical area that Apple operates in.
Mac OS X v10.4 “Tiger” revenue continues to be the best selling release in Apple’s history, according to Oppenheimer. He told an analyst that Apple’s quarterly revenue for Tiger sales was in the vicinity of $35 million.
Tim Cook said that Apple expects to have a great quarter with its current iPod line, and some new products, hinting that Apple has more iPod-related announcements up its sleeve.
Cook also called the issue of iPod nano scratches “very, very minor.”
Oppenheimer said that Apple continues to monitor unit sales as they get closer to their transition to an Intel architecture — they warned at the outset that it may have an impact.