Musings from The Software Underground

Apple posted it's best quarter, ever, again. And what happens? The stock drops over 10% in after-market trading...

Why? Because of idiotic unrealistic estimates and "whisper numbers" from "analysts" who have proven time and time again that they don't understand Apple, and hell, don't understand much beyond that.

"In the quarter, Apple shipped 6.45 million iPods. In contrast, analysts were expecting the company to ship in the neighborhood of 7 million units, and some whisper numbers were reaching as high as 9 million units."

"Whisper numbers of 9 million?" Based on WHAT? The number someone pulled out of their butt?

"Apple reported a profit of $1.34 billion for the year, compared with a profit of $276 million last year."

You read that correctly. $1.34 billion vs. $276 million.

They shipped over 1 million iPod nanos in 17 days... SEVENTEEN DAYS, and didn't even come close to meeting demand.

"During the fourth quarter, when Apple earned $430 million on sales of $3.68 billion, the company sold 6.45 million iPods and 1.24 million Macintosh units."

Amazing.

iPod shipments might not have been as high as some were hoping, but they still rose 5% from the company's third quarter and 220% year-over-year.

Meanwhile, the company's line of Macintosh computers posted strong sales as well, with unit shipments up 5% sequentially and 48% from the fourth quarter a year earlier.

And thanks to strong sales from its retail stores, overall revenue rose 4% sequentially from its third quarter and 48% year over year.

Apple, quite simply, is kicking ASS, and I'm quite comfortable developing software for the platform. I don't care what the lemmings do.

Read more: Top Line Topples Apple