Apple's First 4S TV Ad and Quarterly Financial Results (Also Microsoft's)
The first news in this article is that Cupertino-based software developer Apple has released its first add for the recently released iPhone 4S. The interesting thing about the ad is that it doesn’t put the spotlight on the iPhone 4S, it puts the spotlight on one of the features exclusive to the device – the new intelligent assistant Siri (which sometimes says funny things). The commercial focuses on how Siri can be vey useful and can help iPhone 4S users get things done a lot easier by just asking it. In the ad Siri is asked to move a meeting, to set up a reminder, to display how a weasel looks like, and other things.
If you would like to view the commercial, it is available below.
Moving on, the second news is that Apple made public the financial results for its Q4 which ended on September 24. Here are the main figures from the report:
Quarterly revenue – $28.27 billion ($20.34 billion in Q4 2010)
Quarterly profit – $6.62 billion, or $7.05 per diluted share ($4.31 billion, or $4.64 per diluted share in Q4 2010).
Gross margin – 40.3% (36.9% in Q4 2010).
Sold merchandise in Q4 – 17.07 iPhones, 11.12 million iPads, 4.89 million Macs, and 6.62 million iPods.
Total revenue for the year - $108 billion.
Cumulative earnings for the year - $25.9 billion.
“We are thrilled with the very strong finish of an outstanding fiscal 2011, growing annual revenue to $108 billion and growing earnings to $26 billion,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Customer response to iPhone 4S has been fantastic, we have strong momentum going into the holiday season, and we remain really enthusiastic about our product pipeline.”
“We are extremely pleased with our record September quarter revenue and earnings and with cash generation of $5.4 billion during the quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2012, which will span 14 weeks rather than 13, we expect revenue of about $37 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $9.30.”
The last news in this article is that Apple rival Microsoft has made public info on its financial situation as well. And more to the point, Microsoft made public the financial results for its Q1 2012 which ended on September 30. Here are the main figures from the report:
Quarterly revenue - $17.37 billion.
Operating income – $7.20 billion (1% increase compared with the prior year period)
Net income – $5.74 billion (6% increase compared with the prior year period)
Diluted earnings per share – $0.68 per share (10% increase compared with the prior year period).
“We saw customer demand across the breadth of our products, resulting in record first-quarter revenue and another quarter of solid EPS growth,” said Peter Klein, chief financial officer at Microsoft. “Our product portfolio is performing well, and we’ve got an impressive pipeline of products and services that positions us well for future growth.”
"We had another strong quarter for Office, SharePoint, Exchange, and Lync, and saw growing demand for our public and private cloud services including Office 365, Dynamics CRM Online, and Windows Azure,” said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft. "With a great set of consumer products like Windows 7 PCs, Windows Phone 7.5, Xbox and Kinect, we are excited about the holiday buying season.”
If you would like to view the commercial, it is available below.
Moving on, the second news is that Apple made public the financial results for its Q4 which ended on September 24. Here are the main figures from the report:
Quarterly revenue – $28.27 billion ($20.34 billion in Q4 2010)
Quarterly profit – $6.62 billion, or $7.05 per diluted share ($4.31 billion, or $4.64 per diluted share in Q4 2010).
Gross margin – 40.3% (36.9% in Q4 2010).
Sold merchandise in Q4 – 17.07 iPhones, 11.12 million iPads, 4.89 million Macs, and 6.62 million iPods.
Total revenue for the year - $108 billion.
Cumulative earnings for the year - $25.9 billion.
“We are thrilled with the very strong finish of an outstanding fiscal 2011, growing annual revenue to $108 billion and growing earnings to $26 billion,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Customer response to iPhone 4S has been fantastic, we have strong momentum going into the holiday season, and we remain really enthusiastic about our product pipeline.”
“We are extremely pleased with our record September quarter revenue and earnings and with cash generation of $5.4 billion during the quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2012, which will span 14 weeks rather than 13, we expect revenue of about $37 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $9.30.”
The last news in this article is that Apple rival Microsoft has made public info on its financial situation as well. And more to the point, Microsoft made public the financial results for its Q1 2012 which ended on September 30. Here are the main figures from the report:
Quarterly revenue - $17.37 billion.
Operating income – $7.20 billion (1% increase compared with the prior year period)
Net income – $5.74 billion (6% increase compared with the prior year period)
Diluted earnings per share – $0.68 per share (10% increase compared with the prior year period).
“We saw customer demand across the breadth of our products, resulting in record first-quarter revenue and another quarter of solid EPS growth,” said Peter Klein, chief financial officer at Microsoft. “Our product portfolio is performing well, and we’ve got an impressive pipeline of products and services that positions us well for future growth.”
"We had another strong quarter for Office, SharePoint, Exchange, and Lync, and saw growing demand for our public and private cloud services including Office 365, Dynamics CRM Online, and Windows Azure,” said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft. "With a great set of consumer products like Windows 7 PCs, Windows Phone 7.5, Xbox and Kinect, we are excited about the holiday buying season.”
