Despite the global economic slowdown and in the face of investor pessimism, Apple announced today that its first-quarter 2009 retail store revenues were a record $1.74 billion, generating $353 million in profit. The figures mirrored overall results: revenues were a record $10.17 billion, generating a record $1.61 billion in profit. It was the first time Apple had ever sold more than $10 billion in products for a quarter. Apple sold a total of 2,524,000 Mac computers, a nine percent increase over the year-ago quarter, and a record 22,727,000 iPods, a three percent increase. The stores sold 515,000 Macs during the quarter, just shy of record sales. During a conference call with financial analysts, CFO Peter Oppenheimer said Apple will open about 25 stores during fiscal 2009, at least 15 fewer than in previous years. About one-half of those stores will be located outside the United States, he said. “Ron (Johnson) and his team continue to be very selective” in choosing store locations, Oppenheimer explained.
The financial success comes even as Apple continues to make adjustments to staffing at its retail stores. There are reports that store transfers and position upgrades have been put on hold. Store managers are also taking a strong stance on tardiness or absences, firing persons who previously would have been only reprimanded.’
The record sales also comes in the midst of poor financial reports by other tech companies and electronics retailers, including Intel, Best Buy and Circuit City.
Oppenheimer acknowledged the “difficult retail environment,” but said the stores still “performed very well.” He attributed the lower number of Mac sales to the new distribution deal with Best Buy, and aggressive discounting and bundling by other resellers during the holiday season.
There were 251 stores open by the end of the quarter, generating an average of $7.0 million in revenues. Oppenheimer said the stores experienced record One to One visits to Apple’s stores, but didn’t provide any specific figures.
iPhone sales were 4.4 million for the quarter, with sales in 70 countries. He said the iPhone is responsible for 32 percent of worldwide ad views, and 48 percent of U.S. ad views, figures that surpass all the other handsets combined. Total iPhone sales are now over 17 million.
The Apple TV is still a “hobby,” COO Tim Cook said during the conference call, but the product is still fully funded because the company is confident of its future. Sales were “three to four times” sales for the same quarter of 2008, he said, helped by the video rental market.
When questioned about iPod sales, Cook said the product’s growth increase occurred entirely during the last week of the quarter, indicative of customer buying patterns for the holiday season. Mac sales were weak before the new laptop line-up was announced, and strong afterwards. He said Mac sale also showed the same last-week sales upturn.
Oppenheimer said, “We’re going to invest our way through this downturn, and will continue to invest in engineering, marketing, “and the company experience.”
The company now has over $28 billion in cash, Oppenheimer reported.
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