We all know that Apple sells a ton of gadgets, but the amazing thing is that they keep selling more and more. You're never happy with your device when there's a new, better one out there, are you? You just have to have it. It still seems to be the case with Apple products, because last quarter they sold more iPhones and iPads than ever before in their history. Yet even with these results it still managed to disappoint Wall Street, where shares dropped accordingly.
The last quater of the year is the biggest for a consumer electronics company as people pick up presents and spend all the cash they earn during the holidays, so it's where they expect to earn most of their money. Last quarter Apple sold 51 million iPhones, an all-time quarterly record. A year ago they sold a mere 47.8 million. During this recent quarter they also sold 26 million iPads, another record when compared to last year's 22.9 million. Along with that they sold 4.8 million Macs. This staggering amount of devices and money for the company still wasn't enough for investors, who wanted more, more, more! Wall Street had forecasted a few million more iPhones to be sold and thus shares dropped 8 percent in after-market trading to a tiny $551 a share.
"We are really happy with our record iPhone and iPad sales, the strong performance of our Mac products and the continued growth of iTunes, Software and Services," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, in a statement. "We love having the most satisfied, loyal and engaged customers, and are continuing to invest heavily in our future to make their experiences with our products and services even better."
As well they should. Game developers will certainly take note, because this sheer number of devices explains why iOS is the preferred platform for mobile game developers and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. Android is becoming more and more of a viable platform every day but fact is that it's easier to developer for iOS and its users buy more games than anyone else.
There are dozens of great games available for iOS but if I may take this moment to make a game suggestion, The Room Two is coming to iPhone this Thursday, January 30th. You should pick it up immediately. It's already available for iPad and is the sequel to one of the most inventive games on the platform. It's a puzzle game that cleverly uses the touch screen to make you feel like you're really interacting with the world like no other game before it, all while a haunting story plays out. It's really terrific- check out the trailer below.
