Apple: Astonishing Sales In a Slumping Economy
In the midst of a recession that has swooned the US economy, many corporations both large and small have felt the effects and thus, have anticipated down turns in almost all areas of financial performance. Even so, a small percentile of the top performers have managed to continuously witness substantial growth in both sales and revenue. Among these top performers is Apple, one of the leading high-end consumer level electronics manufacturers around the globe.
Just this month Apple recorded its best nonholiday quarter ever when other electronics makers were hurting because of a downturn in consumer spending. According to various estimates, PC shipments for the industry fell 3 to 5 percent over the last three months. But Apple said it sold 2.6 million Macs in the quarter, up about 18 percent from the 2.2 million it sold in the previous quarter, which ended March 28.
Apple also benefited from the June introduction of a new smartphone, the iPhone 3GS. Apple sold 5.2 million phones in the quarter, up from 3.79 million in the April quarter. The 3GS includes new features like the ability to record video, send picture messages and dial with voice commands. Apple previously said it sold more than one million 3GS handsets in the first three days of the product’s availability.
The company’s overall gross profit margin grew to 36.3 percent, from 34.8 percent in the year-ago quarter.
Apple reported that its net income grew to $1.23 billion, or $1.35 a share, up from $1.07 billion, or $1.19 a share, in the quarter a year ago.
Revenue rose to $8.34 billion, from $7.46 billion last year. That exceeded even some of the optimistic expectations of analysts, who projected Apple to announce revenue of $8.16 billion and a profit of $1.16 a share, according to a survey conducted by Thomson Reuters.
So the question for today is: Why are companies like Apple thriving so painlessly when millions of others are struggling to simply stay afloat?
Id love to here what some others have to say!
