Edible Apple

Did somebody say ‘recession’? If so, Apple apparently didn’t get the memo. As a number of tech companies continue to struggle to stay afloat in this tough economic environment, Apple has once again exceeded expectations with its latest earnings report.

Apple handily beat Wall Street earnings estimates by a whopping 24 cents!, reporting EPS of $1.33. Reported revenue came in at $8.2 billion, slightly ahead of analyst estimates. Apple finished out the quarter with 29 Billion in Cash, and in what seems to becoming a trend, the past quarter was the most profitable 2Q in Apple history. Overall, the past quarter marks Apple’s second most profitable quarter in its history.

Not too shabby for a company who, if you listen to analysts, should be shaking in their boots because they currently don’t offer a netbook.

And speaking of netbooks, don’t expect one from Apple anytime soon. When asked about netbooks during the earnings conference call, Apple COO and interim CEO Tim Cook stated,

For us, it’s about doing great products. And when I look at what is being sold in the netbook space today, I see cramped keyboards, terrible software, junky hardware, very small screens, and just not a consumer experience… that we would put the Mac brand on, quite frankly. And so it’s not a space, as it exists today, that we’re interested in, nor do we believe that customers in the long term would be interested in.

Makes you wonder what all those 10-inch touchscreen panels are for, then. Whatever it is, based on the comment above, you can rest assured that whatever device Apple is working on will have a sizeable screen and a spacious keyboard (i.e expect a onscreen keyboard a’la the iPhone).

And speaking of the iPhone (as I pay it forward), it truly was an all-star peformer for Apple this past quarter. Apple sold 3.79 Million iPhones worldwide, which is more than double the number of iPhone’s Apple sold during the March quarter in 2008.

As for the iPod, sales were up 3% compared to the same quarter a year-ago, with Apple reporting just over 11 million sold. 3% may not seem like a lot, but it’s pretty incredible when you consider that the iPod has been around, in some form or another, for almost 8 years.

Mac sales, meanwhile, dropped 3% from the same quarter a year-ago, with Apple reporting just over 2.2 Million Macs sold.

All in all, it was a solid report from Apple. iPhones are selling like hotcakes, the app store is on the verge of its 1 billionth download, 25 new Apple Stores are planned for 2009, and Apple pulled off the second most profitable quarter in its history during one of the worst economic environments in decades.

Can you imagine what kind of earnings Apple is gonna have once this recession drifts away?

Apple’s Stock is currently at $125.10 in after-hours trading, up nearly 4 points from its close at the end of the business day on Wednesday.