Apple posts strong profits, boasts record Mac sales

Earlier this week, Apple investors had a brief scare when the company's stock dropped 6 percent. The reason? Analysts were disappointed when AT&T revealed in its quarterly earnings call that only 146,000 iPhones were activated during the first weekend of sales. A few analysts had predicted as many as 500,000 phones might have been sold during that period and apparently, more than a few folks believed them, resulting in a lowering of expectations for Apple's Q3 results upon AT&T's announcement.

Apple, however, had the last laugh. In its Q3 earnings call yesterday, the company revealed that it raked in a net revenue of $5.41 billion and a net quarterly profit of $818 million during its third fiscal quarter--both of which exceeded analysts' expectations. The reason was not the iPhone but rather, that other product Apple makes: the Mac. Mac sales rose 33 percent to 1.764 million units in Q3 2007--an all-time high for the company. Perhaps we're finally starting to see the results of that iPod/iPhone "Halo effect," eh?

Finally, it wouldn't be an Apple earnings call without the company throwing a bone to the rumormonger/fanboy community, so here it is: when explaining the company's conservative financial estimates for Q4, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer let slip that the company has "some product transitions" up its sleeve but refused to reveal any details. So what will it be, a 6th Gen, touchscreen iPod? An iPhone Nano? Brushed-metal iMacs? An Ultraportable, flash-powered, levitating MacBook Pro? Place your bets now, Mac faithful.

For more on Apple's Q3 results:
- see this eWeek article
- Vallewag's liveblog of the call
- and this Engadget article