Apple has posted its financial results for its third fiscal quarter of 2009, and—despite the harsh economic climate—the numbers represent the strongest non-holiday fiscal quarter in the company’s history. The company pulled in some 1.23 billion in profits on $8.34 billion in revenue for the quarter, with gross margins of 36.3 percent. In terms of raw revenue, some 11.8 percent more cash flowed into Apple during the third quarter than in the same quarter of 2008—and without GAAP-mandated subscription accounting measures impacting how iPhone and Apple TV numbers are counted, the figures would have been even higher.
During the quarter, Apple pushed 2.6 million Macs out the door, which represents a four percent increase since the third quarter of 2008. Apple also sold a whopping 5.2 million iPhones during the quarter, representing a 626 percent increase over this time last year.
Apple’s unit sales actually fell in one interesting area: iPods. Apple says it sold 10.2 million iPods during the quarter—no small number—but that figure actually represents a 7 percent decline in units sold compared the same quarter of 2008. In an unusual move, Apple specifically mentioned sales of the iPod touch were up 134 percent compared to the third fiscal quarter of 2008 during its financial results conference call, perhaps the first time the company has specifically identified sales of one particular iPod model over another. However, sales of the overall iPod product series were brought down by declines in sales of other iPod models (currently the classic, nano, and shuffle). Apple also indicated it expects iPod touch sales to increase during the fourth quarter.
