Apple had an unbelievable third quarter. Yesterday, the company reported its financial results for the quarter, which included its highest revenue and earnings in the company’s history.
“We are delighted to report Apple’s best quarter ever in both revenue and earnings,” said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. “The launch of Mac OS X Tiger has been a tremendous success, and we have more amazing new products in the pipeline.”
Chief Executive Steve Jobs has transformed Apple from a niche player in the PC market to the dominant supplier of digital music. The iPod controls 75% of the market for portable digital music players, according to the latest figures from research firm NPD.
Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer told analysts on a conference call that the company’s iTunes web site controls 80% of the market for legally-downloaded music.
Shipments of Macintosh units also grew by 35% from the same quarter of the previous year. Apple shipped 1,182,000 Macs in the third quarter alone.
Apple posted a net quarterly profit of $320 million and revenue of $3.52 billion, compared to a net profit of $61 million and revenue of $2.01 billion for the same quarter last year.
“We’re very pleased to report 75 percent revenue growth and a 425 percent increase in net income,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2005, we expect revenue of about $3.5 billion and earnings per diluted share of about $.32.”
Chris is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest ebusiness news.
