Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Apple Announces Most Profitable Quarter in History

Posted by Unknown on from the that's-a-lot-of-zeros dept.

zacharye writes with an except from an article over at BGR about Apple's quarterly results: "'Disappointing' though it may have been to some, the iPhone 4S propelled what is now confirmed to have been the most profitable quarter any technology company has ever recorded. Apple on Wednesday reported record earnings for the December quarter, revealing a profit of $13.06 billion on revenue that surpassed $46 billion. Among technology companies, Apple's fiscal first quarter represents the most profitable quarter ever recorded. Only one U.S. company has ever posted a more profitable quarter — Exxon managed a profit of $14.8 billion in the third quarter of 2008 — and the driving force behind Apple's record-setting performance was quite clearly the iPhone."

3 of 761 comments (clear)

  1. Apple is a big as Big Oil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    They use child and/or slave labor, shitty business practices and leveraged the death of their CEO.
    Can they finally be considered uncool now?

  2. Re:Nokia and RIM by elashish14 · · Score: 0, Troll

    I think this is a bit hyperbolic. First of all, if Apple does any R&D, I'm fully unaware of it. Even Microsoft research has produced some useful work (untrustworthy as they are) and some interesting technologies, and that's not even getting close to some of the stuff that Google's working on. If Apple diverted half of the millions they spend on lawyers towards R&D, they would easily have several times the amount any of the competitors in their field has. Source: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/apples-r-d-spending-hits-bottom-as-percentage-of-revenue/60872

    And second, a company does not need to make $50 billion to provide substance. Samsung, Motorola, HTC have made some outstanding pieces of hardware - example: nothing I've seen comes close to beating Samsung's sAMOLED+ screen. Another example: Apple was far late to the game in providing dual-core processors in their phones. One could even say that their excessive development time holds them back, and I don't care what the sales figures are, but if the only innovation you can produce in all the time it took to create the 4S is a program that sends your voice to an AI from a company they bought out, I have to say that all that money in their coffers may as well not exist.

    --
    I have left slashdot and am now on Soylent News. FUCK YOU DICE.
  3. Re:Nokia and RIM by jcr · · Score: 1, Troll

    Yes they did, and unlike Apple, they failed to adapt to changing technology.

    -jcr

    --
    The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."