It seems that Santa delivered a lot Samsung (005930) phones over the holiday quarter. According to the latest numbers from Strategy Analytics, Samsung shipped a whopping 63 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2012, a 73% increase from the 36.5 million smartphones it shipped in the fourth quarter of 2011. Samsung’s smartphone shipment market share also rose to 29% on the quarter, larger than the combined market shares of Apple’s (AAPL) 22% and Nokia’s (NOK) 3%. Just one year earlier, Samsung’s market share stood at 23.2%, which at the time trailed Apple’s 23.6% share. Samsung reported yet another record-breaking quarter with a $6.6 billion profit on Friday, so it’s not surprising to see its share of the overall smartphone
Yesterday was Google, tomorrow is Microsoft — stuck in the middle? Apple. The unholy trinity of tech are going back-to-back-to-back with their quarterly earnings reports and Cupertino, faced with a steeply declining stock price, posted $54.5 billion in revenue — just shy of Wall Street estimates. Still, that represents a record quarter for the company which has been rumored to be facing diminished demand for its flagship iPhone. While it may be a while ’til we know for sure if demand for the handset is tapering off, we can report that the 47.8 million iPhones sold in Q1 of 2013 represents a new high water mark. While revenues were a bit shy of estimates, the earnings per share of $13.82 were above what was expected, as was the record $13.08 billion in net profits. Year-over-year, profit was relatively flat ($13.06 billion in 2012), while revenues were up significantly from the $46.33 billion posted in Q1 of 2012.
Carrying the day were record sales of iPhones and iPads — the latter of which sold 22.9 million units during the quarter, up from 15.4 million a year ago and 14 million last quarter. Other products, however, continued their slow descent towards potential obsolescence. Only 4.1 million Macs and 12.7 million iPods were shipped during the quarter, compared to 5.2 million and 15.4 million, respectively, the same time last year.
As usual, the vast majority of Apple’s revenue, $20.3 billion to be exact, comes from the US. But other markets are growing quickly. In particular, revenues from China are up 67 percent year-over-year to 6.8 billion, while Japan and Asia Pacific are up 88 and 89 percent, respectively, just from last quarter.
Through all this Apple has continued to build an enormous war chest, with $196 billion in assets at its disposal. So, should the allure of its brushed aluminum lineup fade, the company should be able to carry on for some time before falling on dire straits. If you’d like to dig in to all the financial details check out the PR after the break and tune in here for updates when the earnings call gets under way at 5PM ET.
Update: The call is done and all the important tidbits are after the break.
Updates:
5:04PM Tim Cook just let us know that “well over half a billion iOS devices” have been sold as of the end of the quarter. That’s a pretty decent jump from June’s 400 million number.
5:12PM Peter Oppenheimer gave China a special shout out, where he says iPhone sales have doubled.
5:14PM Oppenheimer laid some of the blame for slow Mac sales on delays getting the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro and iMac to market in some regions.
5:17PM iCloud usage appears to have skyrocketed, with Oppenheimer claiming 250 million accounts now active.
5:20PM Apparently over 75 million iOS devices were sold in this quarter alone. Not too shabby.
5:24PM Tim Cook says that, despite competitors going big, he feels no need to follow their lead. When it comes to smartphone screen sizes, Apple has “picked the right one” he says.
5:34PM Tim Cook admits that, while the short ramp up time for shipping new iMacs may have hurt sales for the quarter, he’s sure there “has been some cannibalization” from the iPad.
5:46PM Apple TV, the perpetual Cupertino hobby, is apparently doing quite well, with 2 million units being sold in the quarter — a jump of 60 percent year-over-year according to Tim Cook.
5:54PM Tim Cook doesn’t see cannibalization as a problem necessarily, but as a “huge opportunity.” As he explained, if they held back on the iPad due to fear of cannibalizing Mac sales another company would simply come along, fill that niche and eat into Apple’s bottom line anyway.
6:02PM Cook just sneaked in a mention that 36 new carriers with LTE will be adding the iPhone 5 next week, including those in countries like Italy, Denmark, and Switzerland.
6:05PM That’s all folks, thanks for tuning in.
Show full PR text
Apple Reports Record Results
47.8 Million iPhones Sold; 22.9 Million iPads Sold
CUPERTINO, Calif., Jan 23, 2013 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Apple(R) today announced financial results for its 13-week fiscal 2013 first quarter ended December 29, 2012. The Company posted record quarterly revenue of $54.5 billion and record quarterly net profit of $13.1 billion, or $13.81 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $46.3 billion and net profit of $13.1 billion, or $13.87 per diluted share, in the 14-week year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 38.6 percent compared to 44.7 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 61 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
Average weekly revenue was $4.2 billion in the quarter compared to $3.3 billion in the year-ago quarter.
The Company sold a record 47.8 million iPhones in the quarter, compared to 37 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple also sold a record 22.9 million iPads during the quarter, compared to 15.4 million in the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 4.1 million Macs, compared to 5.2 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 12.7 million iPods in the quarter, compared to 15.4 million in the year-ago quarter.
Apple’s Board of Directors has declared a cash dividend of $2.65 per share of the Company’s common stock. The dividend is payable on February 14, 2013, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on February 11, 2013.
“We’re thrilled with record revenue of over $54 billion and sales of over 75 million iOS devices in a single quarter,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’re very confident in our product pipeline as we continue to focus on innovation and making the best products in the world.”
“We’re pleased to have generated over $23 billion in cash flow from operations during the quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “We established new all-time quarterly records for iPhone and iPad sales, significantly broadened our ecosystem, and generated Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever.”
Apple is providing the following guidance for its fiscal 2013 second quarter:
* revenue between $41 billion and $43 billion
* gross margin between 37.5 percent and 38.5 percent
* operating expenses between $3.8 billion and $3.9 billion
* other income/(expense) of $350 million
* tax rate of 26%
Apple will provide live streaming of its Q1 2013 financial results conference call beginning at 2:00 p.m. PST on January 23, 2013 at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq113 . This webcast will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter.
This press release contains forward-looking statements including without limitation those about the Company’s estimated revenue, gross margin, operating expenses, other income/(expense), and tax rate. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ. Risks and uncertainties include without limitation the effect of competitive and economic factors, and the Company’s reaction to those factors, on consumer and business buying decisions with respect to the Company’s products; continued competitive pressures in the marketplace; the ability of the Company to deliver to the marketplace and stimulate customer demand for new programs, products, and technological innovations on a timely basis; the effect that product introductions and transitions, changes in product pricing or mix, and/or increases in component costs could have on the Company’s gross margin; the inventory risk associated with the Company’s need to order or commit to order product components in advance of customer orders; the continued availability on acceptable terms, or at all, of certain components and services essential to the Company’s business currently obtained by the Company from sole or limited sources; the effect that the Company’s dependency on manufacturing and logistics services provided by third parties may have on the quality, quantity or cost of products manufactured or services rendered; risks associated with the Company’s international operations; the Company’s reliance on third-party intellectual property and digital content; the potential impact of a finding that the Company has infringed on the intellectual property rights of others; the Company’s dependency on the performance of distributors, carriers and other resellers of the Company’s products; the effect that product and service quality problems could have on the Company’s sales and operating profits; the continued service and availability of key executives and employees; war, terrorism, public health issues, natural disasters, and other circumstances that could disrupt supply, delivery, or demand of products; and unfavorable results of other legal proceedings. More information on potential factors that could affect the Company’s financial results is included from time to time in the “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of the Company’s public reports filed with the SEC, including the Company’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 29, 2012, and its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 29, 2012 to be filed with the SEC. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements or information, which speak as of their respective dates.
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.
NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple’s PR website ( www.apple.com/pr ), or call Apple’s Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042.
(C) 2013 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Apple Inc.
UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(In millions, except number of shares which are reflected in
thousands and per share amounts)
Three Months Ended
————————————-
December 29, December 31,
2012 2011
—————- —————-
Net sales $ 54,512 $ 46,333
Cost of sales (1) 33,452 25,630
——– ——–
Gross margin 21,060 20,703
——– ——–
Operating expenses:
Research and development (1) 1,010 758
Selling, general and administrative (1) 2,840 2,605
——– ——–
Total operating expenses 3,850 3,363
——– ——–
Operating income 17,210 17,340
Other income/(expense), net 462 137
——– ——–
Income before provision for income taxes 17,672 17,477
Provision for income taxes 4,594 4,413
——– ——–
Net income $ 13,078 $ 13,064
======== ======== ======== ========
Earnings per share:
Basic $ 13.93 $ 14.03
Diluted $ 13.81 $ 13.87
Shares used in computing earnings per share:
Basic 938,916 931,041
Diluted 947,217 941,572
Cash dividends declared per common share $ 2.65 $ 0
(1) Includes share-based compensation expense as follows:
Cost of sales $ 85 $ 63
Research and development $ 224 $ 160
Selling, general and administrative $ 236 $ 197
Apple Inc.
UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(In millions, except number of shares which are reflected in
thousands)
December 29, September 29,
2012 2012
—————— ——————
ASSETS:
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents $ 16,154 $ 10,746
Short-term marketable securities 23,666 18,383
Accounts receivable, less allowances of $119 and $98, respectively 11,598 10,930
Inventories 1,455 791
Deferred tax assets 2,895 2,583
Vendor non-trade receivables 9,936 7,762
Other current assets 6,644 6,458
——— ———
Total current assets 72,348 57,653
Long-term marketable securities 97,292 92,122
Property, plant and equipment, net 15,422 15,452
Goodwill 1,381 1,135
Acquired intangible assets, net 4,462 4,224
Other assets 5,183 5,478
——— ———
Total assets $ 196,088 $ 176,064
========= ========= ========= =========
LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY:
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable $ 26,398 $ 21,175
Accrued expenses 13,207 11,414
Deferred revenue 7,274 5,953
——— ———
Total current liabilities 46,879 38,542
Deferred revenue – non-current 2,938 2,648
Other non-current liabilities 18,925 16,664
——— ———
Total liabilities 68,742 57,854
——— ———
Commitments and contingencies
Shareholders’ equity:
Common stock, no par value; 1,800,000 shares authorized; 938,973 and 17,167 16,422
939,208 shares issued and outstanding, respectively
Retained earnings 109,567 101,289
Accumulated other comprehensive income 612 499
——— ———
Total shareholders’ equity 127,346 118,210
——— ———
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity $ 196,088 $ 176,064
========= ========= ========= =========
Apple Inc.
UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(In millions)
Three Months Ended
————————————-
December 29, December 31,
2012 2011
—————- —————-
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of the period $ 10,746 $ 9,815
——– ——– ——– ——–
Operating activities:
Net income 13,078 13,064
Adjustments to reconcile net income to cash generated by operating
activities:
Depreciation and amortization 1,588 721
Share-based compensation expense 545 420
Deferred income tax expense 1,179 1,456
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
Accounts receivable, net (668) (3,561)
Inventories (664) (460)
Vendor non-trade receivables (2,174) (1,206)
Other current and non-current assets 413 (962)
Accounts payable 6,145 4,314
Deferred revenue 1,611 1,296
Other current and non-current liabilities 2,373 2,472
——– ——–
Cash generated by operating activities 23,426 17,554
——– ——–
Investing activities:
Purchases of marketable securities (37,192) (40,175)
Proceeds from maturities of marketable securities 3,460 3,038
Proceeds from sales of marketable securities 23,002 21,472
Payments made in connection with business acquisitions, net (284) 0
Payments for acquisition of property, plant and equipment (2,317) (1,321)
Payments for acquisition of intangible assets (138) (108)
Other (52) (34)
——– ——–
Cash used in investing activities (13,521) (17,128)
——– ——–
Financing activities:
Proceeds from issuance of common stock 76 91
Excess tax benefits from equity awards 404 333
Dividends and dividend equivalent rights paid (2,493) 0
Repurchase of common stock (1,950) 0
Taxes paid related to net share settlement of equity awards (534) (355)
——– ——–
Cash (used in)/generated by financing activities (4,497) 69
——– ——–
Increase in cash and cash equivalents 5,408 495
——– ——–
Cash and cash equivalents, end of the period $ 16,154 $ 10,310
======== ======== ======== ========
Supplemental cash flow disclosure:
Cash paid for income taxes, net $ 1,890 $ 1,474
S omeday, you’ll look back and tell the grandkids about it. The happiest day of your life. The day everything started to make sense in the world. You were happy. You felt alive and grounded for the first time… maybe ever. Life was worth experiencing, and Sunday mornings seemed surreal.
No, not marriage or kids… not even those pesky grandkids. I’m talking about the day you switched from an iPhone to Android! That day will live in infamy for the rest of your life. You will look back on it with reverence and delight as you gaze off into the distance at the dinner table. Everyone will say “oh, there you go again… dreaming about Android.”
All joking aside (for now), you’ve made a big change in life and it’s time to get you up and going. This article will serve as your reference point to get set-up, answer questions, and dispel myths. Before we go further, your first step will be to sign up for a Gmail account (if you haven’t already). It all starts from there.
Amazon today won its attempt to toss a claim made by Apple over its use of the name “App Store.” Apple has been fighting Amazon’s Android App Store, believing it to be confusing with its own iPhone App Store. It hit Amazon with lawsuits regarding trademark infringement and false advertising. Today’s victory saw a U.S. judge vacate Apple’s claim that Amazon’s use of App Store is false advertising. The lawsuit over Apple’s trademark claim will move forward.
Some of the best basic iPhone apps hitting the iOS App Store lately aren’t from the iPhone maker, but from one of its biggest rivals. Google, which recently launched or relaunched a series of well-received apps for Apple’s flagship devices, is now courting Apple developers, in addition to wooing Apple users over to Android.
This week, the company published a recruiting video for an in-house iOS developer team, as noted by 9to5Mac. This video is just the latest part of a recent push from Google emphasizing its commitment to Apple’s platform after its Google Maps and YouTube apps were dumped from their default presence on iOS devices this summer. Google acted shocked and semi-insecure (publicly, at least) when Apple made it known that both apps would no longer come preinstalled on its devices.
Away from the public war of words, Google has not only recovered from the fallout, but has come roaring back and embraced its status as just another developer working on Apple’s platform — and one that’s trying to best Apple at its own game. You can see this outward confidence in the new video, which invites iOS developers to come “do cool things that matter.“
Google isn’t just making cool apps that people like on a competing platform, such as its Android mobile OS. It’s making well-liked apps that are core to the functionality of its rival’s devices. By improving on Apple’s Mail, Maps, Safari, Camera and Siri with apps of its own, Google is successfully beginning to wedge itself between the iPhone and iPad maker and its customers. And in the process, it’s begun to build its own lot of loyal iPhone and iPad users.
The last three months, in fairly quick succession we saw:
Google’s own voice-enabled Search app for iOS
A redesigned Gmail 2.0 app
A new (long-awaited) YouTube app for iPad
The maps saga come to an end with a brand new Google Maps, which saw 10 million downloads in 48 hours
And a YouTube recording app called Capture, which targets Apple’s own Camera app
And this list doesn’t include other popular, earlier releases in 2012 like Chrome for iOS, and YouTube for iPhone. As has been previously noted by the Next Web, the new design language Google is using in these apps is very, very good. It’s quite clear that Google is swiftly getting better at mobile design.
And it’s not an accident: the company’s iOS development team has cultivated a specific look and feel for its products on Apple’s platform. Now it’s devoting and building whole teams to creating apps for iOS. After years of internal debate over the role of apps or websites as the best home for Google services on mobile devices, it’s become pretty clear that those within Google advocating for better apps have prevailed.
People are starting to take notice of Google’s improvement at the same time that Apple’s design chops have been taking some heat. When Apple releases a new app these days, its design is nitpicked to death, and complaints about gaudy textures, poor functionality, and confusing design details get the design community and users in a huff. The Apple Maps disaster is just one example. But Podcasts, Siri, Calendar, Game Center and more have also been met with criticism.
2013 is going to be a year when Apple must prove itself again in many ways: can its leaders improve the company in the eye of investors? Can it come up with more revolutionary products that keep customers coming back? Can it continue to stave off tablet challengers?
And now with Google’s full-court press on iOS, another big thing we’ll be watching for is whether Apple’s internal reorganization can produce basic apps that are core to its own device’s experience and will defend and reassert Apple’s design strengths.
Here are two OS X 10.8 bugs for your collection. Both of these critters result in crashes of the affected applications.
Network proxy bug
Network’s Proxies options: To avoid crashes, make sure the top two configurations are not enabled.
Theres good news and theres bad news here. The good news is that this bug affects only a minority of users — those that enable network proxies (as done by going to Network System Preferences, clicking the Advanced button and selecting Proxies). The bad news is that, if the bug affects you, its serious: Several different third-party programs are likely to crash on launch.
The author of MarsEdit explains:
The issue is related specifically to the Auto Proxy Discovery and Automatic Proxy Configuration settings in Network preferences. If you have one of these options checked, you are very likely to crash in MarsEdit, Safari, Tweetbot, and any number of other apps that rely on Apples networking libraries.
Another such application is NetNewsWire. Its developers write:
We believe the instability is affecting a few percent of our users, but its occurring too deep in the bowels of the networking stack to be fixable on our end, leaving us dependent on Apple to correct it in 10.8.1.
Also chiming in on this matter is AgileBits David Chartier, writing about how the bug affects Safari and 1Password: If you are experiencing Safari 6 crashing under Mountain Lion with our 1Password extension installed&it appears to be caused by a problem with proxy settings under Mountain Lion.
The agreed-upon recommended work-aroundat least for nowis to disable/uncheck Networks Auto Proxy Discovery and Automatic Proxy Configuration options. If you cant turn them off, because your network requires that these options remain enabled, you wont be able to safely use the affected apps until Apple supplies the needed remedy.
Snapz Pro bug
To avoid having Snapz Pro crash, don’t select Objects.Another program with difficulties taming Mountain Lion is Ambrosias Softwares Snapz Pro X, a screen-capture utility. The developers state: The current version of Snapz Pro X is not fully compatible with Mountain Lion. The main symptom is that selecting the utilitys Objects& option will cause Snapz to crash. In addition, Mac Audio capture will not work. The KEXT used for Mac Audio capture should be uninstalled automatically by the OS. If used, it will result in a kernel panic.
These are significant problems for Snapz Pro users. In my case, I use Objects for about 75 percent of the screen captures that I do. I was glad to read that the developers hope to have a Mountain Lion compatible update out as soon as possible. Im counting the days.
While traveling, it’s helpful to be able to find a strong WiFi signal, whether you need to check your email, review your latest notifications on Facebook, or actually get some work done. You can click the little WiFi rainbow icon in the menu bar obsessively, waiting for the “Searching for networks” message to end, of course, but it’s nice to have an app running that will just scan your environment and tell you what WiFi networks are available.
I used to do this with a third-party app, like MacStumbler or iStumbler. Not anymore, though, as there’s a built-in WiFi scanner right in Mac OS X Mountain Lion.
It’s rather buried, though, so you’ll want to take the following steps to get the app into your Dock, or your Launchpad. Click on the Finder icon in your dock, or Command-Tab over to the Finder. Press Command-Shift-G and type in the following file path: /System/Library/CoreServices/. Click the Go button and that folder will show up in your view. Scroll down to the Wi-Fi Diagnostics App, and then click and drag it to your Dock, or to your Launchpad icon for easy access later.
Once you’ve done that, launch the Wi-Fi Diagnostics App and hit Command-N as soon as the app appears (ignore the window that shows up first for our purposes here). When you do so, the Network Utilities window will appear. Click on the Wi-Fi Scan button in the top center, and you’ll see a list of all available Wi-Fi networks in your immediate area.
Click in the lower right, where it says Scan and choose Active Scan. Now you can leave the app running, and walk your Macbook around to find the best signal for your needs. You can find the strongest signal area in your house or place of business this way, or just use it to find the strongest free Wi-Fi signal when travelling. Good stuff, really. To join the network, though, you’ll need to click the Airport menu bar icon as per usual and connect that way. Still, it’s helpful to have this kind of tool built right in to the Mac OS X Mountain Lion features, right?
Alphyn Industries’ DELTA415 Wearcom jeans may as well have been called the Dork-O-Tron 3000, for they are nerdy in the extreme. They are also flat-out awesome, and if I was the kind of person who spent $160 on a pair of jeans, then I’d be al over them. Or all in them, I guess.
The Wearcoms are simple: the front right pocket has been replaced by a see-through phone pouch, complete with a protective flap to cover it.
Apparently inspired by the G-suits worn by fighter pilots, the jeans have a clear pocket through which the wearer can use a multi-touch screen, and a button hole through which you can thread a headphone cable.
It is of course ridiculous, although I can see at least one scenario where it would be useful: on a bike. You could ride and still have your iPhone ready to glance at maps or change the music you’re beaming to your Bluetooth speaker, all without having to put it on a handlebar bracket.
Orienting your phone screen-out does have some problems, though. Even with the flap closed, a good whack is going to break the screen and not just crack or dent the back.
A Mac infected by a virus used to be something of a rarity, and it was the best argument you could bring to a Mac versus PC debate. But with Mac adoption surging in recent years, it was inevitable that Apple’s operating system would become a target for hackers.
Variations of one Flashback trojan, which first surfaced back in 2007, are now affecting more than 600,000 Macs around the world. Here’s how to find out whether your machine’s affected and kill the malware.
The Russian antivirus company Dr. Web announced yesterday that the Flashback trojan is now installed on over 550,000 Macs. Hours later, Dr. Web malware analyst Sorokin Ivan announced on Twitter that figure had risen to 600,000 Macs, 274 of which were infected in Apple’s hometown of Cupertino, California.
The most recent variant of the Flashback trojan targets Macs that have an older version of Java Runtime installed. Thankfully, Apple issues an update earlier this week patching the vulnerability, but for some machines it was just too late.
Ars Technica explains how the hack works:
Like older versions of the malware, the latest Flashback variant searches an infected Mac for a number of antivirus applications before generating a list of botnet control servers and beginning the process of checking in with them. Now that the fix for the Java vulnerability is out, however, there’s no excuse not to update—the malware installs itself after you visit a compromised or malicious webpage, so if you’re on the Internet, you’re potentially at risk.
You can find out whether your machine is affected by opening up the Terminal application and typing:
If you get the message ”The domain/default pair of (/Users/joe/.MacOSX/environment, DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES) does not exist”, then your Mac is safe. Basically, the “does not exist” message means you’re clean.
If you see anything other than those messages, you can check out F-Secure’s guide to removing the Flashback trojan.
