Apple (AAPL) put a shine on the US stock market Wednesday, rising 9% and regaining most of the ground lost earlier this month. Fears that the engine of the mobile revolution might be slowing down were quickly put to rest yesterday when Apple once again blew away Wall Street’s estimates for its quarterly earnings. During the first three months of 2012, the creator of the iPhone and iPad earned $11.6 billion on revenue of $39.2 billion. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had predicted earnings of $9.52 billion on revenue of $36.8 billion.
Peter Boockvar, an equity strategist and portfolio manager at New York’s Miller Tabak, blogged today that “another amazing quarter from Apple …is single handedly driving markets this morning.” (Boockvar noted that Apple’s effect on the markets could dissipate later today after a Federal Open Markets Committee meeting and a press conference by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.)
Apple says it sold 35.1 million iPhones during the quarter, up 88% from the year-ago quarter. The company says 230 service providers in more than 100 countries now carry the iPhone. Sales in greater China are up 400% from a year ago.
Apple sold 11.8 million iPads during the quarter, 7.7 million iPods, and just 4 million Macintosh computers. Asked if the iPad and the Macintosh might converge in the future, CEO Tim Cook replied, “You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but those things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user.”
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