Apple Reports First Quarter Results

CUPERTINO, California - Apple® announced financial results for its fiscal 2010 first quarter ended December 26, 2009. The Company posted revenue of $15.68 billion and a net quarterly profit of $3.38 billion, or $3.67 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $11.88 billion and net quarterly profit of $2.26 billion, or $2.50 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 40.9 percent, up from 37.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 58 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple sold 3.36 million Macintosh® computers during the quarter, representing a 33 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 8.7 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 100 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 21 million iPods during the quarter, representing an eight percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

During the quarter Apple elected retrospective adoption of the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s amended accounting standards* related to certain revenue recognition. Adoption of the new accounting standards significantly changes how the Company accounts for certain items, particularly sales of iPhone® and Apple TV®.

“If you annualize our quarterly revenue, it’s surprising that Apple is now a $50+ billion company,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “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.”

“We are very pleased to have generated $5.8 billion in cash during the quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue in the range of about $11.0 billion to $11.4 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about $2.06 to $2.18.”

*Retrospective Adoption of Amended Accounting Standards

On September 23, 2009, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ratified Emerging Issues Task Force (EITF) Issue 08-1 and EITF Issue 09-3, resulting in the issuance of accounting standard updates ASU 2009-13 and ASU 2009-14. Apple was required to adopt the new accounting standards no later than the first quarter of fiscal 2011. Apple elected to adopt the new standards during the first quarter of fiscal 2010, as reflected in its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 26, 2009, which was filed with the SEC on January 25, 2010. The Company also filed a Form 10-K/A to amend its Form 10-K for the year ended September 26, 2009 solely to reflect the retrospective adoption of the new accounting standards to the periods presented in that report. Additionally, Apple filed a Form 8-K that included selected quarterly financial schedules reflecting the impact of retrospective adoption of the new accounting standards and reconciling the application of old and new accounting principles to historical income statements, balance sheets, cash flow from operations, deferred revenue and summary data information.

The new accounting principles result in the Company’s recognition of substantially all of the revenue and product cost for iPhone and Apple TV when those products are delivered to customers. Under historical accounting principles, the Company was required to account for sales of both iPhone and Apple TV using subscription accounting because the Company indicated it might from time to time provide future unspecified software upgrades and features for those products free of charge. Under subscription accounting, revenue and associated product cost of sales for iPhone and Apple TV were deferred at the time of sale and recognized on a straight-line basis over each product’s estimated economic life. This resulted in the deferral of significant amounts of revenue and cost of sales related to iPhone and Apple TV.

Because Apple began selling both iPhone and Apple TV in fiscal 2007, the Company retrospectively adopted the new accounting principles as if the new accounting principles had been applied in all prior periods. Consequently, the financial results of each quarter from fiscal 2007 through fiscal 2009 have been revised. The Company believes retrospective adoption provides analysts and investors the most comparable and useful financial information and better reflects the underlying performance of the Company’s business.

For additional information refer to the “Explanatory Note” in Apple’s Amendment No. 1 to its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 26, 2009.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.