Apple posts Q4 2014 results, reports profit of $8.5 billion

Apple’s fourth quarter revenues came in today and they’re everything investors could have asked for The Company posted quarterly revenue of US$42.1 billion and quarterly net profit of $8.5 billion. These results compare to revenue of $37.5 billion and net profit of $7.5 billion, or $1.18 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.

Apple’s board of directors has declared a cash dividend of US$.47 per share of the Company’s common stock. The dividend is payable on November 13, 2014, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on November 10, 2014.

“Our fiscal 2014 was one for the record books, including the biggest iPhone launch ever with iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook.

The company reported sales of 39 million iPhones, 12.3 million iPads, 2.6 million iPods, and 5.5 million Macs during this period.

The entire fourth quarter financial statement can be found here, where it’ll be online for approximately the next two weeks.

Per The Mac Observer, Cook did have some interesting things to say about the just-launched Apple Pay feature.

During the report, Tim Cook was asked by Shannon Cross of Cross Research what Apple’s business model is for Apple Pay and whether it will, over time, become a standalone business, like iTunes. Or is it just incremental revenue? It was a great question, but it’s neither of those. Here’s what Tim Cook told Ms. Cross.

“What we wanted to achieve with Apple Pay was first and foremost have an incredible consumer experience. So we focused very much on making it elegant and simple….we also wanted to focus on security and privacy. We see huge issues with the security of the traditional credit card system, and many people [corporations] that have entered mobile payments are doing so in such a way that they want to monetize the data, that they collect from the customers. We think, in general, customers do not want this… that they’d like to keep their data private. We want ease of use, security and privacy and maximize all three.”

Cook went on to explain why Apple is headed in this direction, namely that Apple will sell more devices. “We think it’s a killer feature.” He also noted that Apple doesn’t not charge the customer for the benefit. Also:

“We do not charge the merchant for the benefit. However there are commercial terms between Apple and the issuing bank. …We’re not disclosing what they are.”

As always, let us know what you think in the comments.