Apple Beats on Earnings but Falls Short of Revenue: Why I Think IBM will Be Awesome for Them

It seems Apple is making more money and selling iPhones like crazy but they fell short of what the analysts were forecasting.

Apple posted its second straight quarter of double-digit percentage growth in iPhone sales. The company also reported net income of $7.7 billion, slightly more than the $7.49 billion that analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected, on revenue of $37.4 billion, just under the $37.98 billion the analysts had expected. Per-share profit came in at $1.28, compared with the expected  $1.23, a number adjusted for Apple’s recent 7-for-1 stock split.

What was really interesting is that they increased gross margin from 39.4% from 36.9% from a year ago. Even though there phones are ready for a refresh they were still able to keep prices the same and people paid them in record numbers. 

I really think the IBM deal will bring in an influx of business from the corporate end. If you want a tablet for your business then Android is just not ready for prime time. You have to buy these third party apps that connect with your corporate email. You have no idea if they are being made by the NSA or hackers or what. The iPad just works and now IBM could tightly integrate themselves with the iMac and that cubicle machine might go from a Dell to an Apple PC after the next refresh cycle. The consumer market is big and robust but the business market is massive as well.