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Apple Exceeds Expectations; Future Visibility 'Poor'

Nobody's claiming that PCs, mobile "devices" and other electronic gadget sales are recession-proof, either, but you couldn't prove that by Apple's quarterly report yesterday. Its fourth-quarter revenue jumped 27% and profit rose 26% over the same period last year.

But Apple executives confess to "poor visibility" about future earnings, being how they read the newspapers like other mortals. Not to worry, though. "We may get buffeted around by the waves a little bit, but we'll be fine," says CEO Steve Jobs.

According to Advertising Age , Jobs argues that Apple consumers are unlikely to settle for cheaper, lesser products, and 50% of Mac sales are to people converting from PCs. He also says that recessions can be good times for companies, like Apple, with cash to invest in new products.

Apple sold nearly 7 million new iPhone 3G handsets in the quarter, beating market leader Research in Motion's BlackBerry, which sold 6.1 million units in its last quarter ending Aug. 30. Apple also sold 2.6 million Macintosh computers, a 21% increase, and 11 million iPods, an 8% boost.

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Read the whole story at Los Angeles Times, Advertising Age »

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