On Wednesday, Apple (AAPL) turned in their Q2 numbers and despite the missed projections on the iPad, they do no disappoint. According to BGR, Apple’s profit is up a remarkable 95 percent since the same quarter last year, raking in $5.99 billion compared to last year’s $3.07 billion. Analysts estimated between 6 and 8 million iPad sales in the March quarter, but Apple ended up falling short of that with 4.69 million units sold. iPod sales were down from last quarter while the Mac has climbed. The amazing thing to me, is the growth in iPhone sales. Not only do these figures continue to grow, but they seem to be accelerating. Business Insider reports that Apple shipped 18.65 million iPhones during the quarter, which is more than double their year-over-year growth.
Apple’s iPhone recently became available on the Verizon network, and with that became Verizon’s number one selling smartphone. However, reports are now showing that the HTC (2498.TW) Thunderbolt, Verizon’s (VZ) 4G LTE flagship phone, has overtaken the iPhone as Verizon’s top selling phone.
It seems that Apple is impervious to such trends however. Even in the midst of Android’s saturation throughout the smartphone market, and the recent loss of the number one smartphone position with Verizon, Apple is still standing head and shoulders above other manufacturers as they continue their rapid growth.
thibaulthalpern
from your article:
" Analysts estimated between 6 and 8 million iPad sales in the March quarter, but Apple ended up falling short of that with 4.69 million units sold."
and headline from your article reads:
"Apple numbers soars despite iPad losses"
Your headline in conjunction with the quoted text above is very misleading. It implies that Apple's short of reaching the analysts' targets was due to over-projection of interest on the iPad. In other words, you're implying that analysts and Apple might have imagined there is more demand for the iPad than there is, therefore Apple was short of reaching the estimated 6 to 8 million number.
But that implication is wrong! There is a continual backlog of orders for the iPad 2 and Apple cannot fulfill the orders fast enough. In fact, it seems that the maximum they could fulfill, despite sales being much higher, is about 4.69 million in this quarter! Apple could not get the iPad 2 out any faster than that. If it could, the number would definitely been higher because there is a backlog of orders.
Where the problem lies with your article is that it paints the estimated numerical range of 6 to 8 million as if it were a target that should have been met. Hence, you use the word "falling short" and "losses" with the implication that Apple was unable to sell as much as it should have.
To remedy this problem, your article should instead focus on:
1. how analysts' estimates were off perhaps in part because they do not know what the maximum production capacity for the iPad 2 is, and
2. discuss the backlog of iPad 2 orders. This is already well documented because when the iPad 2 originally was out for sale, the wait times for order to fulfillment was 4 to 5 days, then it grew upwards to 4 to 5 weeks, and then it went down to 2 to 3 weeks, and finally it's now at the 1 to 2 week mark.
I don't think you'll reorient the focus of your article but if you do, keep my points in mind because right now, your article is very misleading.