Apple rides iPhone 6 to record profit

Apple Inc. announced that its revenue reached $42.1 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended on September 27, surpassing consensus analyst projections by about $3 billion. The company's net profit during the quarter was $8.5 billion, up 13.3 percent from the same period last year. Apple sold 39 million iPhones in the quarter, a number that was boosted by the release of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus just a week before the close.

Demand for the new smartphones resulted in the iPhone 6 Plus selling out even before it was made available to retailers, and 10 million were sold in the first weekend of availability alone. The announcement of the quarterly results led to a 1.5 percent increase in the value of Apple's shares on the stock market, which closed at $101.25 on Monday. As this blog reported at the time, shares surpassed the $100 mark in mid-August, and have only fallen below that level for short stretches since then.

Sales of all iPhone models totaled $24 billion, well ahead of Macs ($6.6 billion) and iPads ($5.4 billion). The recently announced release of the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3, which go on sale on Friday, together with the new iMac desktop and laptop computers, should raise those numbers further in this quarter.

Apple support services are available to help businesses make the most of the latest innovations. In particular, Mac and iPad deployment should become a more attractive option for companies, as Apple is placing a greater focus on the business side of its services with its recent and upcoming releases.