iPhone fuels record profits for Apple

Apple has reported revenues of $9.87 billion and net profits of $1.67 billion for its fiscal fourth quarter - its most profitable ever.
The company sold 7.4 million iPhones during the quarter, up 7% year-on-year despite component shortages for the iPhone 3GS in July and August.
"For almost the entire quarter, until we got into September, the iPhone 3GS was short virtually everywhere," said COO Tim Cook in Apple's analyst conference call last night.
Apple's revenue from iPhone handset and accessory sales, as well as carrier payments, was $2.3 billion during the quarter - up 185% year-on-year.
Apple also sold 10.2 million iPods during the quarter, down slightly year-on-year. However, the company said sales of its iPod touch doubled during that period.

Half a billion apps were downloaded from the App Store during the quarter.
During last night's analyst call, Cook outlined the company's hopes for iPhone's launch in China this month. "We're going to start with about 1,000 points of sale and then expand further over the next several months thereafter," he said.
"We're not making any projections on the volume, but it is a huge market - the largest market in the world in terms of total phones - and I think it's very important that we get started to make it as large as possible on smartphones."
Cook was also bullish when asked about competition from Android handsets.
"When you look at the ecosystem that we’ve got with iTunes and the App Store, with the App Store having over 85,000 apps, which is a country mile more than anyone else, plus the very strong product pipeline that we have, we feel very, very good about sitting up and competing against anyone," he said.
"Frankly I think that people are really just trying to catch up with the first iPhone that was announced two years ago, and we’ve long since moved beyond that."

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