Antennagate Doesn't Hurt Apple's Earnings

Yes, it was a blowout in every sense of the term and Apple might have even done better had it not run out of product inventory.

During the conference call following the earnings announcement, chief operating officer Tim Cook said Apple was backlogged on iPhones and iPads. Although he didn't offer specifics on when the situation might clear up, Cook said the company was confident about meeting the demand on both product lines.

Apple is making both of these products "as fast as we can make them," he said. Cook added that Apple was "working around the clock to try to get supply-demand in balance. In the scheme of things, it's a good problem to have."

Apple also faced questions about how does a company that understands how to build products as well as this one still encounters product shortages right out of the gate.

'We do not purposely create a shortage for buzz," Cook said. "I'm not sure where that comes from. That's certainly not our objective. The demand for iPhone 4 is absolutely stunning. We're working hard to catch up with demand. I can't tell you when that will occur but everyone's working hard to do it."

"My phone is ringing off the hook from people that need more supply," Cook said.

In a prepared statement, CEO Steve Jobs called it "a phenomenal quarter that exceeded our expectations all around," and indeed it was.

Gross margin was 39.1 percent compared to 40.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. But Apple earlier had projected 36% margins - it almost always under-promises - so Wall Street likely interpreted that as a beat. And in after-hours trading, shares of Apple were up more than 3%.

Indeed, the company beat Wall Street estimates by all measures: earnings and revenue as well as unit shipments of Macs, iPhone, iPad and iPods.

Some specifics:

• 3.47 million Macs during the quarter, up 33 percent. (Wall Street expected 3.1 million Mac units.)
• 8.4 million iPhones, up 61 percent (Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, whose estimate for iPhone units  was the highest at 9.5 million, told CNBC that this still was a better-than-expected number.)
  
• 9.41 million iPods down 8 eight percent (The Street had expected around 9.5 million units.)
  
• Apple began selling iPads during the quarter, with total sales of 3.27 million