Can’t say you’re surprised, can you? Avatar quickly became the best selling Blu-ray of all time after just four days on store shelves. 2.7 million Blu-ray copies were sold in North America alone, smashing the previous record of 2.5 million units sold by The Dark Knight. For a Blu-ray set that includes no extra features, I’d say this is quite the feat. Click here for more information about the future releases (w/ extra features, 3D support, etc.).
[Via Engadget]
As another quarter of the year flies by, Apple posts its positive earnings. Check it: Apple posted revenue of $3.07 billion profit on $13.5 billion in revenue. (Compare this to one year ago, Apple posted revenue of $9.08 billion on $1.62 billion in revenue.) Says Steve Jobs: “We’re thrilled to report our best non-holiday quarter ever, with revenues up 49 percent and profits up 90 percent.”
Here’s a breakdown of each product category. Apple sold 2.94 million Macs during the quarter (representing a 33 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter); 8.75 million iPhones (representing a 131 percent unit growth); 10.89 million iPods (representing a 1 percent unit decline). Since the iPad was just released into the market, it’s too early to tally those numbers. But overall, Apple has done it yet again! Money in the bank, ya’ll. Jobs looks to the future: “We’ve launched our revolutionary new iPad and users are loving it, and we have several more extraordinary products in the pipeline for this year.” Cough–iPhone 4–cough.
The stock market responded graciously to the earnings announcement. Apple stock (APPL) closed at an all-time high of 259.22, jumping nearly six percent from the previous day.
[Via Apple]
On Saturday, April 3 Apple sold over 300,000 iPads. According to the official PR, these sales include “deliveries of pre-ordered iPads to customers, deliveries to channel partners [Best Buy/Apple Authorized Resellers], and sales at Apple Retail Stores. In addition, iPad users downloaded over 1 millon apps from the App Store and over 250,000 eBooks from the iBookstore that day. Impressive! Steve Jobs had this today about launch day: “It feels great to have the iPad launched into the world—it’s going to be a game changer. iPad users, on average, downloaded more than three apps and close to one book within hours of unpacking their new iPad.” Keep in mind that the WiFi+3G iPad does not release until “late-April.” This second launch will certainly rack up high sales figures, too. Can’t you feel the magic in the air?
[Via Apple]
Apple recently announced their first quarter financial results and per usual, they made quite a hefty profit. $3.38 billion to be exact (or $3.67 profit per share). They brought in revenues of $15.68 billion. Note that these numbers are up from last quarter’s profit of $2.26 billion on $11.88 billion in revenue. More to the point, this is the best quarter they have ever had. Let’s break it down by product: Apple sold 3.36 million Macs (representing a 33 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter), 8.7 million iPhones (representing 100 percent unit growth), and 21 million iPods (representing an eight percent unit decline). No surprise there; iPod sales have been declining for some time now. Note that this decline factors general iPod sales; iPod touch sales were up 55 percent.
According to the earnings PR, “The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we’re really excited about.” *Cough–Apple Tablet–cough.* Sorry, I was just clearing my throat. Might as well throw in a possibility of seeing the next iLife, iPhone OS 4.0, and maybe even witness AT&T’s iPhone exclusitivity fall by the wayside to Verizon. Remember to check back here tomorrow night for all Apple announcements.
Every quarter seems to surpass the last financially for Apple. With Steve Jobs at the helm, what else more could you expect? The man is an inspiration, and his company is his vision. “Apple at the core, its core value, is that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better.” Watch as Steve Jobs (in shorts!) motivates the industry in a video captured about ten years ago when he returned to Apple.
Activision announced that its Call of Duty franchise has officially generated over three billion dollars in worldwide retail sales, making it one of the biggest and most successful video game franchises in history.
Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard: Call Of Duty has become one of the greatest entertainment franchises of all time. If you consider the number of hours our audiences are engaged in playing Call of Duty games, it is likely to be one of the most viewed of all entertainment experiences in modern history.”
Well I think we all know what led to this historic claim–cough, Modern Warfare 2, cough.
[Via IGN]
And that’s an understatement. In fact, IGN calls it “the biggest launch in the history of all forms of entertainment.” And we’re talking about the video games industry here. Good stuff!
On November 10 games publisher Activision released the latest installment in the coveted Call of Duty franchise, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. After very positive initial reviews and a garnered hype spread by word of mouth and Twitter (MW2 quickly became (and still is) a trending topic). In its first 24 hours on sale the game sold approximately 4.7 million copies in North America and the UK and made $310 million in sales. DAY-UM!
Mike Griffith, CEO of Activision: “The Call of Duty franchise has become a cultural phenomenon showing the power of video games as an entertainment medium.” “The shattering of these entertainment records is a testament to the compelling, cinematic and uniquely engaging experience that the Call of Duty brand delivers. Modern Warfare 2 has taken interactive experience to unprecedented heights setting a new standard for entertainment.”
Jump in on the action and get yourself a copy of MW2 today.
[Via IGN]
Today Apple held their fiscal 2009 thrid quarter conference call with investers and analysts. Apparently Apple had the “best non-holiday quarter [in terms of] revenue and earnings.” From their official press release:
The Company posted revenue of $8.34 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.23 billion, or $1.35 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $7.46 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.07 billion, or $1.19 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 36.3 percent, up from 34.8 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 44 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
Apple admitted that “we expect traditional MP3 players (read: iPod classic, nano, and shuffle) to decline over time as we cannibalize ourselves.” Basically, Apple points out here that all iPod models (except for the touch) are “walking dinosaurs.” Apple sees the iPod touch and iPhone continuing to dominate the market well into next year, while the traditional iPods will continue to decline in sales. More from the offiicial press release:
The Company sold 10.2 million iPods during the quarter, representing a seven percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhones sold were 5.2 million, representing 626 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter.
If you’re wondering about Mac sales: Apple sold 2.6 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, representing a four percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter.
Other notable mentions include…Apple on its relationship with AT&T: “I think it’s an excellent relationship and we’re very happy with it.” …Apple on the netbook rumors: “At this point we don’t see a way to build a great product for this $399, $499…for this kind of pricepoint unit. Some customers, maybe many customers buying these become disappointed and disenchanted buying these.” …Apple on the recent tablet rumors: “…without discounting anything for the future, I think most customers buying a portable want a full-featured notebook.” And “many people won’t be happy” with the crappy experience of a netbook, so Apple is “only going to play in something that’s very innovative that we’re very proud of.”
The title of the official press release summarizes it best: Apple Reports Third Quarter Results – Best Non-Holiday Quarter Revenue and Earnings in Apple History. Way to go, Apple!