Gadget & Tech News

Hey, turns out that people seem to like a little thing called the iPhone 3G. Apple just announced that it’s sold 6.9 million of ‘em during its financial fourth quarter, beating out the 6.1 million total first-gen iPhones sold in the previous five quarters — and beating RIM’s total sales this quarter, which Apple seems excited about. Of course, that represents worldwide availability in 70 countries vs the initial US-only launch, so it’s not totally unexpected that the numbers are up, but it means that Apple’s hit its goal of 10 million iPhones sold in 2008, which should cause some celebration in Cupertino. Apple also seems pleased with Mac sales, which are up 21 percent over a year ago to 2.1 million — more than it’s sold in any other quarter ever. All that combines with 11 million iPods sold for a total profit of $1.1 billion on revenues of $7.9 billion — that’s a lot of scratch. Still times are tough, so Steve, do you have a seemingly-cautious statement about the US economy that also doubles as a smug shot at your competitors? “We don’t yet know how this economic downturn will affect Apple. But we’re armed with the strongest product line in our history, the most talented employees and the best customers in our industry. And $25 billion of cash safely in the bank with zero debt.” Yeah, we thought you might.

PS.- The analyst call is going on right now, we’ll let you know if anything interesting happens.

Update: Steve’s on the call! He says that Apple has 5,500 apps in the iPhone App Store, and that Apple should sell its 200 millionth app tomorrow — “unlike anything we’ve seen in our careers.” He’s calling Apple customers the “smartest, more product-aware customers in the market,” and that economic hardships won’t cause them to switch to cheaper machines, just delay their purchases, since “none of our competitors can deliver products in this class.” In addition, Apple plans to invest and “innovate through the downturn” as it did the last time the economy went sour.