Type of Article: MacMinute Web Site

While Apple reported a better-than-expected financial picture for the fiscal-fourth quarter, the real details are in the numbers of unit sold, revenue from each product family, and sales by geographic region.

Data from Apple indicates 827,000 Mac systems sold in the quarter (19% less than a year ago quarter), with the breakdown being 306,000 iMacs (32% less), 190,000 iBooks (81% more), 225,000 Power Macs (36% less) and 106,000 PowerBooks (6% less).

Apple’s fourth quarter conference call took place this afternoon. Highlights from the call follow:

• Apple is still on track to open 25 retail stores this quarter; economic conditions are not affecting the company’s plans to open more retail stores this year. [17:18 ET]
• Japan region was the weakest for Apple geographically during the quarter, due to the country’s weak economy. After September 11, there was a slow-down globally, but particularly in the US.
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Apple has reported earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter of $66 million ($65 million after one-time gains), or 19 cents per share, edging analyst estimates of 16 cents per share. Revenue for the quarter came in at $1.45 billion, which compares with an estimate of $1.5 billion. During the quarter, Apple shipped 850,000 Macs, and the company announced that iBook education sales tripled during the quarter.

LightWork Design has released LightWorks for Mac OS X. The company bills the 3D design and animation tool as featuring “the industry’s fastest rendering engine.”

For a limited time, SmartDisk is offering special pricing—up to 30 percent off— on its power products for PowerBook G3/G4 systems. These items include auto adapters, air adapters, battery and battery chargers, and more. The discounted pricing is valid through December 31.