Apple Revenue Balloons to $3.5 Billion in Third Quarter -- Apple released its financial results for its last fiscal quarter, recording a staggering $3.52 billion in revenue with $320 million in earnings. Both numbers were substantially higher than analyst expectations. The same quarter a year ago produced $2.01 billion in revenue and $61 million in earnings. The company reported selling over 6.1 million iPods last fiscal quarter, which ended 25-Jun-05. Apple also sold nearly 1.2 million Macintosh computers, a 35-percent increase over a year ago.

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Two interesting side facts: gross margins are up from around 28 percent to nearly 30 percent, which is magnificent in a commodity market in which all competitors are seeing shrinking margins. The second is that international sales were 39 percent of revenue. In its SEC filings, Apple broke out sales, showing 495,000 laptops sold and 687,000 desktops. Retail sales accounted for 144,000 computers and $555 million in computer sales (not including other items). The company expects to produce similar revenue and earnings next quarter. Apple now has $7.5 billion in cash and short-term investments on hand, and about $7 billion in assets when considering all assets less all liabilities. [GF]