Apple's 3Q results: iPhone sales still can't be compared with 2007

Apple reported its fiscal third-quarter results yesterday, and it's impossible to judge how iPhone sales compare with last year since the iPhone was released during the last two days of the year-ago quarter in 2007.

This year, Apple said it sold 717,000 iPhones in the third quarter that ended June 28. In 2007, it sold 270,000 iPhones between June 29 and 30. To make matters more confusing, Apple said it sold 1.7 million iPhones in the fiscal second quarter of this year, but pulled the device from retail shelves before the end of the quarter to prepare for the iPhone 3G version, which went on sale 13 days into the company's current fiscal fourth quarter.

In all, the iPhone contributed $419 million in revenue during the fiscal third quarter, a relatively small amount considering that its Macintosh desktop and laptop business contributed $3.6 billion and the iPod business earned $1.7 billion. Apple posted a better-than-expected 37 percent increase in revenues for the third quarter to $7.46 billion, a performance that represented the technology company's best quarterly period in its history. Profits increased by 23 percent to $1.07 billion for the quarter.

Apple's stock, however, fell more than 10 percent in after hours trading yesterday after the company forecast fiscal fourth-quarter earnings $500 million lower than analysts' expectations. Investors are worried the company is being forced to cut prices to cushion its sales growth.

For more:
- check out RCR Wireless News
- read The Times Online

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