Apple reveals Q3 earnings, releases Mountain Lion

Market leader continues to climb - but not in all areas.

Apple has reported net income of $8.8 billion for its third quarter of 2012, as sales of its iPhone and iPad devices skyrocket.

For the three-month period ending June 30 this year, Apple sold 26 million iPhones, up 28 percent on the previous corresponding period, and 17 million iPads, and 84 percent increase on Q3 2011. 

Its Mac sales were also up 2 percent to 4 million for the quarter, while iPod sales dropped 10 percent to 6.8 million units shipped.

“We’re thrilled with record sales of 17 million iPads in the June quarter,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a statement.

While Apple’s net income was up $1.5 billion on the year-ago quarter, the results fell short of analyst estimates. 

Apple reported revenue of $35 billion, lower than the expected $37.2 billion, reports Marketwatch.

The company expects revenue of $34 billion for the fourth quarter. 

Apple shares fell 5 percent in after hours trading immediately following the announcement.

Mountain Lion released to the wild

Apple today also announced the availability of the latest version of its desktop operating system, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, to be released in its Mac App Store tomorrow.

The OS is priced at $US19.99 and brings across several features seen in the iOS mobile operating system across to Apple desktops, including Siri-style dictation to MacBooks, iMacs, and MacPros as well as Messages, Notes and Reminders for mobile and desktop integration.

The developer version of the operating system was released to Apple developers in February.

“We’ve also just updated the entire MacBook line, will release Mountain Lion tomorrow and will be launching iOS 6 this Fall,” Cook said in the earnings report. “We are also really looking forward to the amazing new products we’ve got in the pipeline.”