Apple's iPhone Silences Doubters: Tech Weekly - TheStreet.com

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- There was an earnings explosion this week thanks to tech titans such as Apple(AAPL), Amazon(AMZN), Netflix(NFLX) and AT&T(T), with Apple, of course, getting most of the attention.

Apple reported earnings that shattered expectations on Tuesday, and set aside any fears about a slowdown in iPhone sales. During its fiscal second-quarter, Apple sold 35.1 million iPhones, 11.8 million iPads, 4 million Macs and 7.7 million iPods. Investors and analysts had been concerned that sales would slow, given possible supply constraints and an aging iPhone. The technology giant noted, however, that iPhone sales grew 88% year-over-year, with sales more than doubling in Asia. iPhone sales in Greater China rose five times year-over-year, CEO Tim Cook said, during the Apple conference call. "We are happy with the iPhone pricing moves we made a few months ago on iPhone 3G, iPhone 4," he explained. Quarterly earnings came in at $12.30 a share on $39.2 billion in revenue. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $10.02 a share on revenue of $36.69 billion. Some $22.7 billion of revenue was from the iPhone, now available in more than 100 countries and on 230 carriers.

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Apple's increased reliance on China led several analysts to raise price targets and upgrade the stock, as it continued to dumbfound analysts' expectations. The Cupertino, Calif.-based firm also announced it would hold its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 11, with a big focus on software. "We have a great WWDC planned this year and can't wait to share the latest news about iOS and OS X Mountain Lion with developers," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, in a press release. "The iOS platform has created an entirely new industry with fantastic opportunities for developers across the country and around the world." Shares of Apple jumped this week, gaining 5.24% to finish up at $603.

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