Even Giants Fall Below Expectation

Technology tycoon Apple had low expectations for the third quarter which they met, on July 25^th.

The SEC filings released stated that Apples’ profits increased 21% to $8.8 billion or $9.32 a share in the third quarter of 2012, with revenue of $35 billion. An increase from the $28.57 billion revenue and net profit of $7.3 billion recorded for the same time period, last year.

 Even with this 22% increase in revenue, it’s still less than analysts’ expectations.

The net income increased by 20% from the previous years’ 3^rd quarter income of  $7.3billion to $8.8 billion,according to the SEC.

When falling short in other aspects Apple was able to sell a record amount of iPads, an astonishing 17 million units sold, shattering the previous record of 15.43 billion. Revenue jumped from $6 billion in 2011’s third quarter to 9.1 billion this year.

"We're thrilled with record sales of 17 million iPads in the June quarter," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO in the press release. "We've also just updated the entire MacBook line, will release Mountain Lion tomorrow and will be launching iOS 6 this fall. We are also really looking forward to the amazing new products we've got in the pipeline."

On the bright side, the company sold 26.0 million iPhones in the quarter, which was the biggest revenue contributor and represented a 28% unit growth over the year-ago quarter. With this increase, the numbers still fell short of Wall streets’ projected 29 million.

Apple reasoned that this was due to struggling economies in places like Europe, Australia and even North America. This trend was also seen in China, which the CEO attributes to a seasonal lag after the launch of the company’s latest phone, the iPhone 4S.

Mac computers also fell victim to this, as the sale of desktops fell 18%,in revenue, and laptops increased just 3%, with both product lines falling below the conjunctive estimate of $4.1billion in sales.

The world’s most popular music player, otherwise known as the iPod, also saw a decrease in sales by nearly 10%,falling from $1.3 billion to just $1 billion

After this supposed forgettable quarter, the company looks ahead to a bright future in the 4^th quarter and beyond, hoping to improve revenue and profit.

"We're continuing to invest in the growth of our business and are pleased to be declaring a dividend of $2.65 per share today," stated Peter Oppenheimer, the CFO of Apple. "Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter, we expect revenue of about $34 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $7.65."