Apple has gone and posted up the financial results for operations during the second quarter of 2009. Not only this, but they commented on the possibility of an Apple netbook in the future.
According to the press release, "Apple sold 2.22 million Macintosh® computers during the quarter, representing a three percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 11.01 million iPods during the quarter, representing three percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone units sold were 3.79 million representing 123 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter." Apple posted a revenue of $8.16 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.21 billion. Apple has said the results exceeded their expectations, despite the lacking economy. As you may know, there have been many rumors about an Apple netbook, and they have once again commented on these. Tim Cook, an executive of Apple, has stated, "For us it"s about doing great products. When I"m looking at what"s sold in the Netbook market, I see cramped keyboards, junky hardware, very small screen, bad software. Not a consumer experience that we would put the Mac brand on. As it exists today, we"re not interested in nor would it be something customers would be interested in the long term. We are looking at the space. For those who want a small computer that does browsing/email, they might want an iPhone or iPod Touch. If we find a way to deliver an innovative product that really makes a contribution, we"ll do that. We have some interesting ideas. The product pipeline is fantastic for the Mac. We"ve historically exceeded the market rate of growth, especially given this economy is an extraordinary achievement. These netbook sales are propping up the unit numbers for the industry. We are very pleased with our performance."
They"ve also stated that Steve Jobs is still well on track for a return to Apple at the end of June, potentially for a WWDC comeback. Only time will tell in this respect, but it"s interesting to see that Apple is still doing well, despite a touch economy and the historically higher prices of their products.