Apple has had two major product launches this year and the dough is rolling in. Cementing the company's claims that the iPad has been nothing short of a 'magical' money making machine is the revelation that the company sold nearly as many iPads as Macs. Apple shifted 3.47 million Macs during the quarter (a 33 percent unit increase compared to the same period last year) and managed to sell 3.27 million iPads in the first few months of launch.
Macs and iPads aside, Steve and the gang sold 8.4 million iPhones, (up 61 percent compared to the same period last year), and experienced a slight dip in iPod sales. The company sold 9.41 million iPods during the quarter, representing an eight percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.
Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said the company is "really pleased" to have generated over $4 billon in cash during the quarter and added that they expect Q4 to be even better with revenue of about $18 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $3.44.
As you can imagine, Steve Jobs is also extremely happy with the last few months, He took the opportunity to talk up the iPhone 4, and hinted that he has more "amazing new products" up his sleeve for launch this year.
"It was a phenomenal quarter that exceeded our expectations all around, including the most successful product launch in Apple’s history with iPhone 4," Job said in a statement. "iPad is off to a terrific start, more people are buying Macs than ever before, and we have amazing new products still to come this year."
During a Q&A yesterday afternoon, Apple revealed it will be setting aside $175 million in revenue to cover the free iPhone 4 cases it's giving out to alleviate antenna issues some users are having.
