Apple Q3: Profits Surge 78%

Sales of new iPads and iPhones drive net income to $3.25B

It may rain occasionally in Cupertino, but the skies never stay cloudy for long.

Shrugging off complaints about the latest version of its iPhone, Apple Inc. on Tuesday reported a 78 percent surge in third-quarter profit to $3.25 billion.

Surging sales of the company’s new iPhone and iPad reader tablet exceeded analyst expectations.

In the period ended June 26, sales gained 61 percent to a record $15.7 billion, topping analysts’ $14.7 billion estimate.

“This was a blow-out quarter and strong across the board,” Gleacher and Co. analyst Brian Marshall told BusinessWeek. “This really negates the bear argument that the introduction of the iPad will result in cannibalization of other Apple products, namely Macs and iPhones.”

The iPhone once again was Apple’s top-selling product, generating $5.33 billion on 8.4 million unit sales. The company also sold 3.27 million iPads, 3.47 million Macintosh computers and 9.41 million iPods.

Apple officials said that, despite ample press coverage, the complaints about the antenna in its new iPhone haven’t actually been legion.

The company is delivering free of charge a case that mitigates the problem to all new iPhone purchasers, and is deferring $175 million from its fourth-quarter revenue to pay for it.

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