Apple had an earnings call this week running down the numbers for its first quarter of 2012 (which was actually the October through December quarter of 2011). They were mind-blowing: the company doubled its revenues and its profits over the same period from just a year before.
As Mashable reports, Apple’s record revenues for the quarter shot up to $46.3 billion, with profits coming in at more than $13 billion – more than all the revenue brought in by Google ($10.6 billion) during the same period. Apple saw growth just about across the board, with an increase in Mac sales as well as iPhones and iPads. Sales of the iPod Touch were down, but it seems mostly due to the fact that iPhone sales were up so high.
It’s the iPhone market that’s the biggest story (outside of just massive, massive numbers) for Apple. The constant war between Apple and Google for smartphone supremacy has tilted back in Apple’s favor with its latest numbers, if only just barely (and only in the U.S.). According to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, as reported by GigaOM, Apple has claimed 44.9 percent of the U.S. smartphone market with the help of the release of the iPhone 4S, which is double the share of the market it held a year ago. Meanwhile, Android dipped to 44.8 percent (down from 50 percent a year ago), which was just enough to put it behind iOS. Kantar also said the iOS market share was growing faster than Android across nine other countries the research firm covers, including Mexico, Brazil and the UK.
Apple moved 15.4 million iPads in its Q1 2012, an increase of 111 percent over the same period the year before. During the earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook fielded a question regarding whether iPad sales had been affected by the release of Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet, but Cook said it didn’t appear as though the iPad had felt the presence of the Fire one way or the other. At more than twice the price of its popular Android competitor, TechCrunch reported that the iPad still is believed to have outsold the Kindle Fire three to one (Amazon hasn’t released any concrete Kindle Fire sales numbers as yet).
It’s a banner way for Apple to begin 2012 (or end 2011). Apple is more than likely poised to announce a refresh for the iPad, expected sometime this spring, with a higher-resolution screen and a more powerful processor. Apple has some big expectations to meet, but given some of the insane numbers it saw during the last quarter, it seems the tech giant is headed in the right direction.
