The numbers are in, and somewhere at Apple, executives are sure to be smiling.
The company's second quarter earnings report for 2011, and attending conference call, revealed some staggering increases. Revenue, a higher than expected $24.67 billion, rose 82 percent from last year, and net income rose to $5.99 billion, a 95 percent increase. To compare, revenue from the same period in 2010 showed only a 49 percent increase to $13.5 billion from 2009.
The iPhone, which finally rolled out to Verizon subscribers earlier this year, was a big factor in the increase, accounting for nearly half of all revenue for the period. From the same time one year ago, iPhone sales rose 113 percent, with 88 percent of Fortune 500 companies using or testing the phone. The company sold over 18 million iPhones--more than twice the population of New York City.
In Asia, the figures are even more impressive--iPhone unit sales grew 477 percent year over year in the region. Sales in China alone were up 250 percent, driving total revenue in the country near $5 billion. Strategy Analytics' analysis of Apple's Q1 numbers found it topping Nokia as the world's largest handset vendor for the first time ever (in revenue, not handsets sold).
And iTunes sales reached $1.4 billion--a 27 percent increase. The store has also seen over 10 billion app downloads to this point, and will soon see its billionth visitor.
At 4.6 million sold, iPad sales were lower than expected. CFO Peter Oppenheimer also said, "I wish we'd produced more iPad 2s, as a lot of people are waiting for them." But every single iPad 2 made during the quarter was sold, suggesting demand for the devices is outpacing supply. Though some have suggested that the rise of tablet computing could cannibalize the PC market, Apple's Mac line saw a healthy 28 percent increase to 3.76 million units. The company attributed the result to what they called a "halo effect," a consequence of Apple's philosophy of having all gadgets work within a unified ecosystem.