Global recession? Not for Apple, whose Wall St. financials are blissfully unaware of Main St. reality. Apple's sadness? They can't keep up with demand.
First the supply side: If you want to purchase an iPhone 3GS right now, especially a white one, be sure to check Apple's iPhone availability tool before heading to the mall. Some models--color and memory combinations--are locally scarce, though the situation can change hourly.
Speaking on a Tuesday conference call for financial analysts, Apple execs said they are working on solving supply issues and still plan to introduce the 3GS in China later this year.
Some MacBook models are also supply-constrained, the company said. That is expected to resolve itself over the next few weeks.
But, don't cry for Apple over missed sales. The company also announced its best non-holiday quarter ever, reporting a profit of $US1.23 billion on revenue of $US8.34 billion during its third quarter.
Now, the demand side: "We're making our most innovative products ever and our customers are responding," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs, in a statement. "We're thrilled to have sold over 5.2 million iPhones during the quarter and users have downloaded more than 1.5 billion applications from our App Store in its first year."
The bad news? Well, such as it is, iPod sales were down 7 percent during the quarter, which seems reasonable when you can buy an iPhone 3G for $US99. Also hasn't given iPod customers much reason to upgrade lately if they don't need a phone, too.
Apple deserves congratulations on its success, which only seems to be growing. What's next? A new tablet in time for Christmas? Still seems likely, probably with some new iPod's, too.
Industry veteran David Coursey tweets as @techinciter and can be contacted via his Web site.