(Group) Assignment 2 – How to read financial statement

Financial Data: Apple Inc. Q3 2011 Unaudited Summary Data (http://images.apple.com/pr/pdf/fy11q3datasum.pdf ) 

This table shows Apple's Q3 2011 quarterly revenue (as net profits). Data is arranged by operation segments and by product basis in 2 tables, while both should indicate the same amount of the total revenue; 28.571 billion USD.  This amount is almost double of a year ago.  

My Notes and Analysis.

Apple Q3 is April to June time period.

iPad2  release – March 25 2011

iPhone 4  release – Jan 11 2011 (Verizon) March 2011 (AT&T)

The reasons for sales increase (From Group Meeting 10/10/2011)

1.       Obviously the sales revenue during the 3^rd quarter is due to iPad2 and iPhone4’s new release.

2.       Japan, Pacific, European sales increased dramatically. Popularity in oversea compare to the other smart phone products. (62% of the sales came from oversea)

Speaking of my analysis above, I agree with the financial reports in Apple’s Press Info – Time Record Revenue and Earnings (7/19/2011) http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/07/19Apple-Reports-Third-Quarter-Results.html

All the analysis and numbers are true regarding sales facts and same my analysis.

Regarding forward looking statements from the press, I had the following feedback.

This company’s product concept development has been done by Mr. Steve Jobs and he was literally a genius in the history.  There was a claim that even Microsoft copied Apple’s concept regarding PC, and Apple makes both hardware and software while Microsoft does software only.

The company is probably OK for a while after Mr. Jobs death  because they just announced a new release iPhone4S (Some said 4S is a for Steve, BTW) However, they need to understand the importance of the next generation of the current product lines so that they continue to be the leader, since other companies ready to copy the similar products with lower costs. e.g.  Amazon, Google, Samsun.  

What I think of Apple is, they are just very expensive. Not only tablets or smart phones, I love even Apple’s PC/Notebook, and also SW development tools!!  However I end up with using DELL and Microsoft due to cost efficiency…

The next hot business opportunities for these IT companies may be cloud business, means that services thru the internet via portable devices.  However, I would warn the society with such centralization, if internet is down, everything becomes not available.