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Profits on a per share basis at $8.67 were well short of the $8.75 analysts had expected, even though they were up 24 percent year on year. Sales, though ahead of the consensus, were a little light, too, at $35.97 billion.

Obviously, there was a lot of pent-up demand for new iPads, which Apple announced last week, new Macs, and even iPhones in the quarter. That means that having come in a little light this quarter, expectations for Apple to make it up in the first quarter — including the holiday period — will be higher.

The earnings conference call is just about to start. We’ll see what Apple executives have to say about all this.

Update: So the call is over. There were a handful of interesting comments from Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer. One came by way of explanation for the lower-than-expected profits and gross margins. All those new products that Apple released this week? They’re a little more expensive to make than the prior generation. And so gross margins are a little bit lower than they otherwise would have been.

Another interesting admission concerned the iPad mini. Its gross margin, Oppenheimer said, is a little “lower than the corporate average.”

But just wait until the first quarter of Apple’s fiscal year 2013, now in progress. That’s the holiday season quarter, and all those products are going to start selling. Oppenheimer said Apple expects to report sales of $52 billion in a single quarter. For perspective: That’s nearly $10 billion more than the revenue Apple reported for the entire year in 2009.

Here’s my rough transcript of the earnings conference call.

2:02 pm: And the call is getting under way. CFO Peter Oppenheimer is speaking.

Oppenheimer: 4.9 million Macs is 1 percent growth, and a record for a September quarter, and is better than the 8 percent market contraction that IDC predicted.

Oppenheimer is now running through the product announcements made earlier this week.

Mac Channel inventory is three to four weeks, below target of four to five weeks.

Now he’s talking about iPod, which is still the top selling MP3 player in the world. Apple sold 5.3 million iPods during the quarter.

iTunes brought in $2.1 billion in revenue. A revamped iTunes is coming. No mention yet of the radio service that was reported earlier today and totally killed Pandora shares.

Oppenheimer: Now speaking about iPhone 5. Demand has been phenomenal, he says. Demand outstrips supply. We ended the quarter with 9.1 million iPhones in channel inventory and that’s below target of four to six weeks channel inventory.

Oppenheimer: Talking about business adoption of iPhones. Canon has given them to its field sales team.

2:08 pm: Oppenheimer: Amtrak uses an in-house app for ticketing; reporters around the world are using iPhones to capture video.

And now he’s talking about iPad. They were ahead of our expectations. Strong sales year over year.

Oppenheimer: Recognized revenue from iPad and accessories was $7.5 billion vs. $6.9 billion. Ended quarter with 3.4 million iPads in inventory, just higher than the target of three to four weeks.

Oppenheimer: Volkswagen has developed in-house iPad apps across the company. Also a Chinese insurance company, the name of which I will not attempt to spell.

Oppenheimer: We will not stop until Maps — the troubled iPhone app — lives up to our standards.

Oppenheimer: Apple finished the quarter with 390 stores.

Oppenheimer: Operating expenses were $3.5 billion. Cash: $121.3 billion up from $117.2 billion last quarter. Increase was net of $2.5 billion worth of dividends paid, which amounts to $2.65 a share. About 82 percent of cash was offshore. Also, in August, Apple said it would buy back some shares.

Oppenheimer: Here’s the outlook. Revenue at $52 billion vs. $43.6 billion. Gross margin 36 percent. Opex $4.05 billion. EPS $11.75.

2:17 pm: Oppenheimer is wrapping up which means its almost time for the Q&A.

Katy Huberty: Asks about the possibility of EPS declines year on year. What’s driving the gross margins down?

Oppenheimer: The change year over year is being driven by the extra week last year. That along with a stronger U.S. dollar and the change in gross margin.

Oppenheimer: As you pointed out, this is the most prolific product period in Apple’s history. New products represent 80 percent of expected revenue. We’ve never before introduced so many new products with new form factors at once, and each one has higher costs. (I’m paraphrasing here.)

Oppenheimer: We’re heading into the quarter with the strongest iPhone line-up ever. Also, the iPad mini is priced aggressively. Its gross margin is significantly below the corporate average. (I guess that answers the critics who said the price wasn’t low enough!)

2:22 pm: Oppenheimer: We will work hard to get down the cost curves and improve our efficiencies. To be in a position to anticipate demand for $50 billion or more in revenue reflects our strength.

CEO Tim Cook is speaking: We’re unwilling to cut corners. This is the reason our customers choose to buy our products. We’re managing the company for the long run and will make great long-term decisions.

Question from Bill Schope of Goldman Sachs: Asking about the supply ramp for the iPhone in the holiday quarter.

Cook: Demand for iPhone is extremely robust. We are in a significant state of backlog right now. Our output has improved significantly. I’m very pleased with the progress. This is the largest volume ramp in Apple’s history. Difficult to predict when supply and demand will balance.

Question from Toni Sacconaghi from Sanford Bernstein. He’s asking again about the ramp of iPhone. Do you expect all 100+ countries this quarter? And will the supply contraints have material impact on cost of goods sold? Will COGS decline?

Cook: In regard to the first question, we still continue to expect to roll out to 100 countries. It is our largest ever, there will be some larger countries in December. With each new product we see learning curves in terms of production. The difference is the number of new products that we have moving at once. This is the most prolific period in our history in terms of new product introductions. We do see all of these costs associated. But I don’t see costs accelerating on a per-unit basis.

2:28 pm: Cook we continue to be confident that the tablet market will surpass the PC market. It is already extremely compelling for many customers to choose a tablet, in particular an iPad, over a PC. There is an enormous opportunity for Apple there. We do think the iPad, mini and iPad 2 will all be an extremely attractive offering in lieu of a PC. We will focus on the future of the iPad.

Question from Shannon Cross: Talk a little about China. Clearly with the revenue guidance it remains strong, but with the economy it’s mixed.

Cook: Revenue was $5.7 billion. IPad was up 45 percent in Greater China. Iphone was up 38, all in all a fantastic quarter in China. That brings us to a full year $23.8 billion in China, which is really phenomenal when you think about it. That’s up $10 billion year on year, and amounts to about 15 percent for all of Apple. We are continuing to invest in our retail stores there. We continue to expand distribution with channel partners there. We see it as an extremely exciting market.

2:32 pm: Cross again: With the launch of Microsoft Surface today, talk about the competitive landscape.

Cook: I haven’t played with a Surface yet. What we’re reading about it is that it’s a fairly compromised and confusing product. One of the toughest things you do with a product is make hard trade-offs and decide really what it should be. I suppose you could design a car that flies and floats, but I don’t think it would do all of those things very well. I think people, when they look at the iPad versus competitors, they will conclude they really want an iPad and they will continue to do that.

2:33 pm: Question from Ben Reitzes at Barclays: Is there more of an education focus with the mini? How do we think about the cannibalization of the form factor vs. the old product?

Cook: The way we look at this is that we provide a fantastic iPod touch, an incredible 4th generation iPad, and mini. The customer will decide what they would like and will buy them. We’ve learned over the years not to worry about the cannibalization of our own product. There’s still 300 million PCs being bought each year and a great many of those will be better off with an iPad or a Mac. Instead of being focused on cannibalizing ourselves, its really an enormous incremental opportunity for us.

Reitzes is asking about AppleTV. We haven’t heard about your hobby lately?

Cook: We sold 1.4 million AppleTVs. That’s more than 5 million during the fiscal year. Almost double the previous year. The business continues to do very well, but if you look at the revenue of the business versus the others, it’s quite small. Still a hobby, but a beloved hobby. We’ll continue to pull the string and see where it takes us.

2:37 pm: Gene Munster asking about the deceleration of iPad sales.

Cook: June to September quarter was 17 million to 14 million. June contained a 1.2 million increase in channel inventory. The sell-through looks different from reported sell-in numbers. The 14 million exceeded what we expected to do in iPad. We expected it to decline. Based on prior results, we would see a seasonal reduction in the September quarter. K-12 schools buy heaviy in the June quarter, versus the higher ed market. That is exaggerated when we announce a new product in March and have enormous demand in June and then a natural phase down. In addition to all that, it’s clear they held back on purchases due to new product rumors. These intensified in September.

2:39 pm: Cook: On a year-over-year basis, because of the year-ago quarter having a channel inventory build, the sell-through grew 44 pecent, so the underlying sell-through was extremely strong. We feel great about how iPad has done.

Munster: Given what we’re seeing in margins, as some of these products get more expensive, would you be willing to pass those costs onto customers?

Cook: It’s a hypothetical question. We think we’ve made great choices here.

Question from Mark Moskowitz: He’s asking about iPhone and iPad comparisons in sequential quarters.

Oppenheimer: We expect large sequential increases.

Moskowitz: Asking about iPhone 5 rollout. Will you have supply contraints in all markets or will there be certain markets where you intend to hit equilibrium?

Cook: What we did initially, we planned the first 30-40 countries, and rolled that across September in two different dates. We planned with an eye toward supply and what we think the demand will be. We do plan these in advance. It is not a precise science. We have to plan them with several weeks of notice. Occasionally it can be different than what we think.

Question from Steve Milunovish of UBS: Asking about pricing philosophy of the iPad mini.

Oppenheimer: When we set out to build the iPad mini, we didn’t set out to build a small cheap tablet. We set out to build a smaller device with the full iPad experience.

2:45 pm: Cook: We try to create a product that people will love for months and years and continue to use it in a robust way. You can really see that by looking at usage statistics. More than 90 percent of Web traffic from tablets comes from iPads. Apple will not make a product that people rarely use once they get it home. (Paraphrasing.)

2:46 pm: Milunovich is asking about the enterprise opportunity.

Cook: We now have almost all of the Fortune 500 who are testing or deploying iPads. We’ve also pushed fairly aggressively in the Global 500 and those are above 80 percent on iPhone and iPad. We’re doing fairly well there. There’s clearly much more to do but I’m felling pretty good about it.

2:47 pm: Question about the component environment (didn’t catch the name of who’s asking).

Cook: In terms of iPad and iPhone, I don’t see a component shortage gating us for the quarter in the numbers we have given you in the guidance. I think we have solved some challenges there and feel good about our position.

In terms of general shortage, the iMac will be constrained in a significant way. There will be a short amount of time during the quarter to build them. We will have a significant shortage there. (Hint: If you want an iMac, order it right away!)

2:50 pm: ISI, Brian Marshall asks about iPhone unit growth vs. revenue growth. He’s seeing a variance between that pattern and the iPad. Is it less accessories or a dollar spend?

Oppenheimer: The iPhone ASP were relatively flat year on year and up slightly sequentially. Ipad ASPs were down year on year in a low-double-digit way. This was reflective of price reduction on iPad 2 and stronger dollar and a little change in the mix. That drove the ASP change year on year. Sequentially, ASP was flat.

Marshall is asking about U.S. iPhone activations being faster than international.

Cook: We launched iPhone 5 during the quarter. I would have expected that versus the rest of the world.

2:52 pm: Question from Keith Bachman, BMO: Will the iPhone 5 launch in China in the December quarter?

Cook: Yes, it will.

Bachman: Will you end the quarter with a backlog?

Cook: I am not projecting whether supply and demand will be in balance. I’m confident we’ll be able to supply quite a few during the quarter. Demand is very robust.

Chris Whitmore of Deutsche Bank asking about the iPad. Specifically asking Cook for his view for emerging model of subsidies on tablets. Like Amazon’s Kindle Fire. How is that impacting the iPad business?

Cook: We’ve seen low-cost challengers before. Ipad beats every product at any price. We’re confident our focus on making the best product is what will win at the end of the day and we will stay true to that.

Whitmore: Asking about suppliers. Is that creating an added layer of complexity and to what extent is that contributing to higher cost structure?

Cook: I would not say there has been a significant change in supplier partners. I wouldn’t describe any change as significant. There hasn’t been one that would drive more cost.

Whitmore: I was asking about LCD screens and Samsung.

Cook: No change in cost, and we continue to have a commercial relationship with Samsung (despite the epic lawsuits).

2:57 pm: Question from someone whose name I didn’t get: Why is the time for iPad mini now right?

Cook: The comment that I think you’re referencing are comments that Steve Jobs had made about 7-inch tablets. We would not make a 7-inch tablet. We don’t think they’re good products. We would never make one. One of the reasons is size. Not sure if you saw our keynote, but the difference in just the real estate size in 7.9 vs. 7 is 35 percent, and when you look at usable area is much great than that, more like 57 percent. IPad mini has the same number of pixels as the iPad 2 does. You have all 275,000 apps that are iPad ready. IPad mini is a fantastic product, it is not a compromised product. It’s in a whole different league.

Sorry, I missed that guy’s second question. Oppenheimer is now speaking about gross margins and the effect on them by the sheer number of products that Apple just announced.

Oppenheimer: We are also going to work to get down the cost curves as we have done in the past. No change in what we try and work on and we’ll report to you in January how we did.

And that’s it. Thanks for being here.

The earnings were lower than the $8.75 consensus though sales beat the $35.8 billion in sales that analysts had expected. Both numbers were as usual, substantially higher than Apple’s guidance of $7.65 per share and sales of $34 billion.

Apple’s third fiscal quarter is often a quieter one, bolstered a bit by the back-to-school season where it has traditionally promoted sales of notebooks. Consumers also have lately been holding back on purchases of new iPhones iPads and Macs anticipating correctly that new products were on the way to ensure strong holiday-season sales.

Apple shares, after closing the regular session down by more than 1 percent to at $609.5 rose by $3.51 in after hours trading or less than 1 percent to $613.28 before its shares were halted.

Here’s some data points:

iPad sales were sequentially down by 17 percent to 14 million units in the quarter, clearly a sign that consumers were waiting for the announcement that Apple made last week of a new iPad and the iPad mini.

Sales of iPhones on a unit basis were about even sequentially. Apple sold 26.9 million of those in the quarter versus 26 million in the third quarter.

Mac sales were solid. Apple sold nearly 5 million in the quarter, of which nearly 4 million were notebooks. Mac sales in the Asia-Pacific region, including China amounted to $7.5 billion which is interesting for the fact that that region drew nearly even with Europe, which reported $8 billion worth of Mac sales.

Here’s another: Apple’s pile of cash continued to grow: Its combined hoard of cash, short, and long-term investments reached $121.25 billion. It paid a dividend of $2.65 a share.

Update: Trading has just resumed and Apple shares are falling. As I type they’re trading at about $598, down about $11 or more than 1 percent.

Here’s Apple’s announcement.

Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results
26.9 Million iPhones Sold; Record Fourth Quarter Revenue and Profit
Board Declares Quarterly Dividend of $2.65 per Common Share

CUPERTINO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2012 fourth quarter ended September 29, 2012. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $36.0 billion and quarterly net profit of $8.2 billion, or $8.67 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $28.3 billion and net profit of $6.6 billion, or $7.05 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 40.0 percent compared to 40.3 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 60 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
The Company sold 26.9 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 58 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 14.0 million iPads during the quarter, a 26 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 4.9 million Macs during the quarter, a 1 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 5.3 million iPods, a 19 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.
Apple’s Board of Directors has declared a cash dividend of $2.65 per share of the Company’s common stock. The dividend is payable on November 15, 2012, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on November 12, 2012.
“We’re very proud to end a fantastic fiscal year with record September quarter results,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’re entering this holiday season with the best iPhone, iPad, Mac and iPod products ever, and we remain very confident in our new product pipeline.”
“We’re pleased to have generated over $41 billion in net income and over $50 billion in operating cash flow in fiscal 2012,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2013, we expect revenue of about $52 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $11.75.”

Thankfully, I was flying Virgin America, which has Wi-Fi on every flight. So, like many people, I was tuned into various liveblogs (including, of course, our own).

Being up here gives a little distance and perspective. So, pardon the pun, here’s my 30,000-foot take on what Apple announced, and how it fits in with some other things going on in the industry.

The iPad mini was the expected star of the show, and it arrived as the final product, though with few surprises. Apple kept the same aspect ratio and pixel count as the iPad 2, so the mini is all set to run any iPad-optimized apps.

Apple isn’t competing aggressively on price — selling the Wi-Fi-only model for $329, well above tablets such as the Kindle Fire HD and Nexus 7 (not to mention a host of other small Android slates). Still, Apple did lower the bar slightly, with the mini selling for $70 less than the cheapest full-size iPad 2.

Apple also introduced an updated fourth-generation iPad that should upset some who thought “the new iPad” wouldn’t become “the old iPad” quite so fast. For all other buyers, they are just getting more bang for the buck — along with the new Lightning connector. That’s a good thing for the future, probably, but, as with the iPhone, it’s a pain if you have lots of existing iPeripherals.

On the desktop Mac side of things, Apple revamped its two main models — the iMac and Mac mini. However, Apple plays in only in a couple segments of the desktop market. For those looking for an all-in-one, the iMac got thinner and more powerful, employing a hybrid drive that combines flash and hard-drive storage.

Here, the iMac will find itself up against a host of touchscreen Windows 8 all-in-ones. Apple continues to make the case that touch is best served on tablets, and that when it comes to the desktop, a nice trackpad will do the trick. Acer, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Lenovo and everyone else will be making a different case, as they add touch to lots of their models — particularly tablets, all-in-ones and convertibles.

As for laptops, Apple added one new model to its lineup, introducing a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, offering those who want the high-end screen in a more compact and slightly less pricey machine. As with the 15-incher, choosing the Retina display gets you a thinner, lighter laptop, but at the expense of an optical drive and a bigger hit to the wallet.

Apple didn’t break a ton of new ground on Tuesday, but what it did was expand its reach, covering a larger part of the markets in which it already competes. Plus, Apple ensured that it will have some brand-new products in stores just as Microsoft and PC makers begin their massive Windows 8 push. Google is also expected to update its Nexus lineup, having scheduled an event for Oct. 29 in New York. (Android chief Andy Rubin will be at D: Dive Into Mobile later that day.)

Well, it’s about time to fasten seat belts and turn off electronic devices. That gives me just enough time to ponder which devices might be finding their way onto this year’s holiday shopping list.

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Sound like a smaller iPad to you? Does to me. Sources tell AllThingsD we can also probably expect a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display and perhaps event a new Mac Mini.

The gathering is to be held at the California Theatre in San Jose, a location not entirely new to Apple, but one that the company hasn’t used in quite some time.

The venue was home to a couple milestone product launches, including the 2005 debut of the first video-capable iPod as well as the launch a year earlier of the first iPod that could display photos. Several U2 band members played at the Apple event to coincide with the launch of a U2 edition of the portable music player.

AllThingsD’s Ina Fried contributed to this report.

What was your favorite TV show as a kid?
“Good Times.”

What qualities do you like in a person?
Courage, humor, original thinking, loyalty.

What qualities do you dislike?
Insecurity, narrow thinking, prejudices, bitch-assness.

Name one thing you will regret never having done (if you never do it).
Ending the oppression of women worldwide.

What’s the single most important issue in the world today?
Global women’s rights.

Do you still buy CDs or rent DVDs?
Yes.

What would you be doing if you were not in your current job?
CEO of a technology company.

What is your greatest achievement to date?
Professional: Helping turn LoudCloud into Opsware and making Opsware successful.
Personal: Marrying up.

iPhone, Android or BlackBerry?
iPhone.

If you could meet any historical or fictional person, who would it be?
Thomas Clarkson.

What site/app do you check first when you wake up?
Twitter.

What was the last thing you fixed?
My mom’s MacBook.

What was your first computer?
TRS-80.

What was your biggest mistake?
Signing a $30,000,000 letter of credit on a building lease for company expansion in early 2000.

Do you have a dog or cat or other pet?
Nope.

What’s your favorite mode of transportation?
Adidas.

What was the last book you read?
“The Tanning of America” by Steve Stoute.

If you could have any superpower, what would you choose?
Speed like The Flash.

Name your favorite guilty pleasure.
Drinking Hine Cognac, listing to old Lil Weezy mixtapes.

What was your biggest most recent purchase?
Professional insulated neoprene BBQ gloves from Ole Hickory Pits.

Whom do you idolize?
Andy Grove, Michael Ovitz, Kanye West.

What do you drive/ride?
BMW b7 Alpina.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
My singing voice.

Who was your biggest influence growing up?
My mom.

Describe an ideal day.
Wake up early, but not too early.
Breakfast at Lois the Pie Queen.
Meet with an entrepreneur who has a great new idea.
Help a CEO figure out an impossible problem.
Write a good blog post.
Dinner with my family.
Read something good.
Watch Manny Pacquiao fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. while drinking yak with my fight buddies Sebastian, Jagoda, Joey, Cartheu and Michel, then listen to Prince, Kanyeezy and Weezy on my Krells.
No throwing up.

The quarter was a miss.

Posting third-quarter financials after market close Tuesday, Apple reported a strong jump in earnings, but still missed analyst estimates (it did beat its own). The company posted net income of $8.8 billion on revenue of $35 billion. Earnings per share were $9.32. Both numbers missed Wall Street estimates. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had been expecting Apple to post earnings per share of $10.36 on revenue of $37.2 billion.

Apple’s guidance for the fourth quarter also disappointed: The company forecast $7.65 a share for earnings on revenue of $34 billion. That’s low even for Apple, whose guidance is often comically conservative. Analysts had been looking for $10.22 a share in earnings on revenue of $38 billion.

Apple said it sold 26 million iPhones for the quarter, up 28 percent from the year prior, but down 26 percent from the previous quarter; 17 million iPads, up 84 percent from the year prior; 4 million Macs, up 2 percent; and 6.8 million iPods, down 10 percent. Wall Street was expecting iPhone sales of 29 million units, iPad sales of 16 million units, Mac sales of 4.1 million units and iPod sales of 5.9 million units.

One bit of good news: Apple’s Board of Directors has declared a cash dividend of $2.65 per share of the Company’s common stock. The dividend is payable on August 16, 2012, to stockholders of record as of the close of business on August 13, 2012.

“We’re thrilled with record sales of 17 million iPads in the June quarter,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said, pointing to the lone high point in the company’s earnings release. “We’ve also just updated the entire MacBook line, will release Mountain Lion tomorrow and will be launching iOS 6 this Fall. We are also really looking forward to the amazing new products we’ve got in the pipeline.”

Apple shares are getting hammered in after-hours trading. At $570.05, they’re down more than 5 percent.

Notes from the earnings call

• Best quarter ever for Mac sales in education. North Carolina bought 6,000 MacBook Airs.
• Two iPads sold for every Mac sold into education market.
• Yes, OS X Mountain Lion is shipping tomorrow.
• Mac sales were up 2 percent, compared to the 1 percent contraction in global PC sales charted by IDC.
• With four to six weeks of inventory, iPad supply is no longer constrained.
• Number of iPads in use at the Fortune 500 has tripled over the past year.
• Cumulative iOS device sales have passed 410 million units; 45 million sold in the June quarter alone.
• More than 150 million people are using iCloud services.
• Tim Cook: We remain very excited by our opportunity in China and look forward to adding more local services there.
• CFO Peter Oppenheimer: Weekly iPhone sales impacted by “continuing speculation” about possible forthcoming new products.
• Cook: We’re not seeing anything in China that we would classify as an obvious economic issue. … We are seeing a slowdown in business in Europe, but not China or the United States.
• No, we’re not going to talk about our fall product transition. Nice try, though!
• Cook: Timing of portable announcement impacted Mac sales for the quarter. New MacBook Air, MacBook Pros were announced with less than three weeks remaining in the quarter. “We ended the quarter in backlog. … We anticipate catching up by next month.”
• Cook on carrier subsidies: “… Our role is to make the very best smartphone in the world, that has an incredible user experience. And at the end of the day, that’s what our customers want and that’s what the carriers’ customers want. … From carriers’ perspective, their total subsidy is small relative to subscriber fees they collect.”
• Cook: Most popular iPad is the new iPad, but the iPad 2 remains very popular, particularly in education.
• 1.3 million Apple TVs sold this quarter, up 170 percent over year prior; 4 million sold so far this fiscal year. “That 4 million is not a small number. But it’s still at a level that we would call it a hobby,” Cook says. “We’re not one to continue projects we’re not believers in.”
• No, we’re not going to talk about Passbook, NFC and Apple’s rumored plans for a digital wallet. Cook: “Passbook is an important feature of iOS 6 and I wouldn’t want to speculate on where it might take us.”
• Cook: “We’ve all seen many different tablets, hundreds of them, come to market over the past year, but I’ve yet to see any of them gain what I would call any sort of traction. … From what we see, most customers are not looking for a tablet, they’re looking for an iPad. … We’ve now shipped over 84 million iPads. It took us more than twice as long to achieve that with the iPod. … We feel really, really good about our momentum in this space.”
• Cook on Apple in India: “I love India … but I believe that Apple has some higher potential in the intermediate term in some other countries. That doesn’t mean we’re not putting emphasis in India, we are. … But the means of distribution there adds to the cost of getting products to market. We will continue to put some of our energies there, but the immediate larger opportunity is elsewhere.”
• Cook: “Our North Star is to maniacally focus on making the world’s best products. … We are going to stay focused on making the best products because we’ve seen again and again that when we distance ourselves further from people who don’t innovate, we further distinguish ourselves.”
• Cook on Oppenheimer’s earlier remark that rumors of the next generation iPhone have undermined sales of the iPhone 4S: “I’m not going to spend any energy stopping people from speculating about our next products. I’m glad that people want the next thing. I’m super happy about it.”

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Back in early May we reported that WWDC would see the debut of a brand-new “blow your head off” Apple-developed mapping application. On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal confirmed this. So we can almost certainly expect a new Maps application to be part of Monday’s presentation. Also a near-sure thing: A new MacBook Pro with a significantly thinner chassis and high-resolution “Retina-esque” display, as we previously reported.

But what else might we see?

During the opening night session at D10 last week, Cook’s comments about Facebook strongly suggested that the announcement of some manner of iOS integration with the social networking service — similar to the one Apple has already done with Twitter — could be on tap. As Cook said, when asked about such a deal at D10, “Stay tuned on this one.” Does that comment mean that iOS 6, which Apple plans to show off at WWDC, will have Facebook baked in? Certainly possible, as other have claimed.

Another likely possibility: New Macs. We’ve been hearing chatter about a refresh of most of Apple’s Mac lines for some time now. Yesterday, 9to5Mac reported that Apple has new versions of the MacBook Air, the iMac and perhaps the Mac mini and/or Mac Pro, the last of which is long overdue for an update. We haven’t been able to confirm this report independently, but it, too, sounds entirely plausible. MacBook Airs have not seen a refresh since July 2011. And the last MacBook Pro refresh was a relatively minor one in October.

Also possible: Deeper native integration of iCloud into OS X Mountain Lion and iOS 6. As I wrote when iCloud first launched, “If, as Steve Jobs says, software is the soul of Apple’s products, hardware their brains and sinew, then iCloud is their memory — and soon perhaps one of their biggest selling points as well. Certainly it’s a feature that will differentiate Apple’s already well-differentiated products even further from the competition.” ICloud may not be a major driver of customer loyalty now, but with its ease of use and promise of change-on-one-device, update-to-all computing, it will be, someday. And it’s been about a year since iCloud debuted, so it, too, is due for an update.

What else? APIs for iCloud and Siri, perhaps. Apps for Apple TV, or a broader enhancement to the device that paves the way for a more comprehensive TV offering. As Tim Cook noted at D10, Apple’s Apple TV business has grown quite a bit in the past year. In 2011, the company sold fewer than three million Apple TVs. In the first six months of this year, it has sold 2.7 million. As Cook told D attendees, “This is an area of intense interest for us. We’re going to keep pulling the string and see where it takes us.”

Perhaps WWDC attendees will get a chance to see, as well. We’ll find out on Monday.