UPDATED: Apple is “world’s number three phone maker”

 

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Posted on 22 Oct 2008 at 10:46

Steve Jobs has confirmed that Apple has already met its target of selling 10 million iPhones before the end of this year.

During a conference call following the release of Apple’s latest quarterly financial results, the company’s chief executive revealed that the 10 million figure was reached during October.

Apple defers iPhone revenues over two years - an accounting measure that allows it to provide free software update and new features without having to charge extra (By contrast, Apple charges for iPod touch updates, since revenues are not deferred.)

If iPhone revenues were not deferred, then the phone would have accounted for 39% of Apple’s total revenue for the July to September quarter, Jobs said, making Apple the world’s third largest mobile maker, after Nokia and Samsung.

“Apple outsold [BlackBerry-maker] RIM last quarter, and this is a milestone for us,” he said. “RIM is a good company that makes good products, and so it is surprising that we could outsell them in any quarter after only 15 months in the market.”

Jobs also revealed that Apple is on course to have sold 200 million iPhone and iPod touch applications by the middle of this week.

“The 200 millionth app. We've never seen anything like this in our careers,” he said.

Jobs also touched on the significance of Apple’s $25 billion cash reserves, with no debt.

“This provides us tremendous stability and the ability to invest our way through this downturn,” he said. “This is what we did during the last downturn - we increased R&D investments and created some of our best new products and businesses, like the Apple retail stores, for one. This downturn may also present some extraordinary opportunities for companies that have the cash to take advantage of them, like Apple does.”

UPDATE: Analyst Toni Sacconaghi of Sanford Bernstein pressed Jobs on this point.

“When you made that statement, are you suggesting that there are significant opportunities for Apple outside of Apple, specifically in terms of acquiring companies?,” Sacconaghi asked.

Jobs was non-committal.

“I just meant exactly what I said, which is I think there’s going to be some significant opportunities,” he said.

Just for comparison, Adobe, often spoken of as a possible Apple acquisition, currently has a market value of just under $15 billion.

Author: Simon Aughton