When is $50 billion not enough? When you're Apple.

by **Admin** Sat Jul 25, 2015 9:34 am

Apple's stock tumbled 8% in after-hours trading Tuesday after the company reported it sold fewer iPhones than expected in the past three months and offered a weak outlook for the current quarter.
Overall, Apple's sales and profits were strong. In its fiscal third quarter, Apple (AAPL, Tech30) recorded revenue of $49.6 billion. Financial analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected sales of $49.4 billion.
But the company sold "just" 47.5 million iPhones. While that's up a stunning 59% from a year ago, the number of iPhones sold last quarter is still fewer than the 49 million analysts had forecast.
There was plenty of good iPhone news for Apple to cheer about, though.
CEO Tim Cook said more Android customers are switching to the iPhone than ever before. And the average selling price for an iPhone shot up $99 to $660 over the past year, which means that a growing number of people are buying the more expensive iPhone 6 Plus.
Apple Watch
The number of Apple Watches the company sold remains a mystery. Apple has relegated the Watch to its "other" category, along with the Apple TV, the iPod and similar niche products.
Yet Apple gave a few clues about how well the Apple Watch is selling.
Cook said that sales exceeded the company's own (nonpublic) expectations, and sales in the "other" category would have declined if not for the Watch, since iPod sales continue to shrink. Since revenue in the "other" category rose by nearly $900 million from a year ago, the Apple Watch generated around $1 billion in sales last quarter.

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