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Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is going to be talking about it's Q4 results at 5:00pm today via conference call and webcast, and Bloggingstocks.com is here live to liveblog the computer manufacturer's report. For a preview of the report, check out my earlier summary of the ups and downs Apple has had this quarter.

The summary of the results has, three minutes before the conference, already been released. The Unofficial Apple Weblog has the details, including a $1.01 per share profit which beats Apple's 65 cent estimate and the 80+ cents a share many analysts were expecting. Apple sold over 2 million computer units, a first ever! This should be a solid reporting call for Apple.

You can also, check out TUAW's liveblog here of the event.
4:55: listening to hold music...

5:02: still listening.

5:07: still listening. La. A confusing busy tone, but now the organizer has said it's just about to begin. I hold my breath.

5:10: waiting on additional participants.

5:14: and still waiting...

5:18: we just broke into the middle of a sentence. Technical difficulties anyone? Targeting revenue of $9.2 billion. Expect gross margin to be guided down.

5:19: in closing, extremely pleased with year's results. Sold over a million iPhones in 74 days. Mac shipments exceeded last quarters. New iPod customer reaction has been strong. New iPhone pricing has accelerated sales. Best December quarter ever is coming up with best product lineup in Apple history.

Analyst questions:

5:21: UBS asks. In regard to guidance, they seem more conservative. What are they seeing that makes Apple so confident with that $9.2 billion. Apple replies that with the best products shipping, just eclipsed Mac sales record, iPod sales have accelerated after the transition, and the iPhone is doing well. Apple exited the Sep. quarter really well.

UBS asks if a lot of iPod sales were pushed into December? Asks about Mac sales. Apple says Mac sales could be lower in winter due to really big back to school sales. Re: iPods, shares are up in September, up 12 points in UK. With these kind of increases feel that Apple is very well poised.

5:25: Piper Jaffrey "congratulations." Gene Munster is asking about iPhone revenue share. Apple recognizes revenue from handset sales over 24 month period of time on a daily basis. Revenue from iPhone was $118 million in the quarter. Won't get into detail about carrier agreement.

AT&T, is it a long term agreement? Apple says it is a multi-year exclusive agreement.

Best Buy stores, how many are up and running? 230 operating at the end of Sep. quarter. 270 expected by end of Dec. quarter. The impact it's had: Apple is pleased, good results, looking forward to expanding.

5:27: Gartner of Citigroup is asking about channel inventory. Likes how low it is.

5:30: David Bailey of Goldman Sachs. What about the pricing strategy in Europe as it goes up as the dollar weakens? Apple says they set the price when they announced, it includes VAT and other duties. Direct sales were 57% of revenue, up from the previous quarter.

5:31: Morgan Stanley: Europe outgrew the US. What's up there? Apple, year over year Europe has been doing well. It's 4 times the IDC expected gain.

5:33: Shannon Cross asks about revenue again, and what the biggest drivers quarter over quarter are. Mac, or iPod. Apple replies: the holiday quarter is the big quarter for iPods, and Apple is shipping the best for the December quarter. Apple thinks sales accelerated after the iPhone price reduction, selling 1.1 million, for a total of 1.4 million.

5:35: Bear Stearns: when are we going to hit 3 million iPhones sold? Apple: we're selling these things faster than iPods, and we're in Europe, and we're going to be hitting Asia in '08.

What about Japan, which has been lagging for some time? Japan continues to be Apple's most challenging market. The only market they're not growing in. However Mac sales are doing well, best year over year in 7 quarters. iPod had a difficult compare due to a large sale to a telecom company there.

How should we view the guidance on earnings for this quarter? Apple says we post guidance for what we expect to make.

"Things are really coming together well for us."

5:39: Lehman Brothers asks about the rebate issue with the iPhone. In regards to the $100 credit it will be accounted when the customers redeem, and charge it to costs of goods sold. Most are expected to be redeemed by the end of December.

40,000 iPod selling location. 8700 Mac sales locations.

5:41: Stanford Bernstein asks about price elasticity in regards to the iPhone rebate. How did the price cut impact sales? Apple: happy with elasticity. Enabled Apple to surpass the 1 million end of quarter goal. Some have been sold to people with intention to unlock, guess that 250,000 of the 1.4 million sold that intend to unlock, many of those after the price cut.

10 million by end of calendar year 2008 still!

Apple: saw an acceleration once the price cut happened.

5:45: Credit Suisse asks about the price cuts on iPhone and Touch. Gets cut off.

RBC comes on, can't be heard.

Bank of Montreal can't be heard.

Move on to FTN Midwest: "can you hear me?"

Apple conference call organizer. "Yeah."

FTN asks about piloting business iPhones, enterprise, and on impact on iPod sales. Apple says they're not doing a pilot with Circuit City, investing in Best Buy. All the iPhone customers have incredible customer satisfaction. "Unprecedented in our history." Apple has no updates on enterprise pilots with iPhones. Apple: "we saw no cannibalization on iPod sales with initial iPhone rollout." Don't have numbers post price drop.

5:49: Credit Suisse tries again: asks about cannibalization on iPod sales from iPhone. Apple: "Again, generically, we saw no evidence."

What do you estimate the size of the Mac install base to be, and how many are on Tiger. Apple: vast majority of Macs shipped in the last 4 years can run Leopard.

5:51: RBC Capital Markets: can you talk about Mac momentum and shifters? Apple: had an incredible record, breaking record by 400,000 units, and twice as many macs as done in '04. Best macs being shipped in history, and incredible reception in the new iMac. Third, 120 million iPods sent mostly to Windows users. Over 50% of Macs sold are to new Mac users. All these lead to momentum that gives 11 quarters of the last 12 that Apple has grown faster than the market.

iPods shipping to Windows drives Mac sales. In Europe will iPhone and iPod sales help boost Mac sales? Apple: we'll see. Would point out that European business in the Mac area grew 47%.

5:55: Bank of Montreal: how does Apple think about increasing its sales via channels? Apple: Asia/Pacific is the fastest growing region. Have added over 2,000 retail points.

5:57: 2g versus 3g phone in going into Asia. Apple won't say anything.

5:58: Pacific West Securities asks about video content on iTunes and whether it's changed due to the increasing amounts of content out there. Apple: we have the largest library of content available to customers, over 5 million songs, 500 movies, hundreds of TV shows.

Asks, how much business does the $100 voucher bring in to Apple stores? No answer.


A webcast of this will be available at Apple's website.