With many other firms facing financial difficulties resulting in numerous lay offs and even falling into the hands of administrators, Apple is bucking the trend, reporting record revenue and profit in its first quarter.
For the three-month period ending on December 27, 2008, Apple recorded a whopping £7.4 billion in revenue, compared to £6.9 billion this time last year.
So what does a company need to do to reach these figures in a time of financial uncertainty? Well Apple did it by selling 2.5 million Macs, 22 million iPods, and 4.3 million iPhones during the quarter. So if you bought an iPhone to be a bit unique, so did 4,299,999 other people over Christmas.
The iTunes Store also did its bit for Apple, with a record quarter for music sales. These sales specifically reached a peak on Christmas Day and week that followed potentially meaning that iTunes gift cards were another popular Christmas gift last year.
CNET has reported that Apple’s gross margins increased as well from favorable prices for commodities including DRAM, flash memory, and LCD displays.
Source: CNET