In its third-quarter 2008 Quarterly Results Conference Call, Apple Inc. executives CFO Peter Oppenheimer and COO Tim Cook made several comments concerning its music-related products, which accounted for 33% of the company’s total revenue growth in the third fiscal quarter. iPod sales grew 10 percent in the U.S. during the quarter, and 15 percent internationally. The iTunes Movie Rental service now offers over 2200 films — 450 in HD — and the App Store is up to 25 million downloads and 900 applications, with 20 percent free to download, and 90 percent priced at less than $10.
Both Cook and Oppenheimer repeatedly made reference to a future product transition, expected to take place in the September quarter, which will bring down the company’s average margin to 31.5 percent; the pair also said Apple would be “delivering state-of-the-art new products at prices our competitors can’t match.” It was not revealed whether the product transition in question will be iPod or Mac related. Speaking on iPhone production capability and recent sellouts, Cook said that the company was shipping units as fast as it can, adding that “[w]e are confident enough about the production ramp that we will be launching in about 20 additional countries on August 22,” bringing the total number of countries where the iPhone is available to over 40, a number which Apple has stated will grow to at least 70 by the end of the year.
