Apple's iPod Responsible for Record Revenues

Despite the economy's continued downward spiral, Apple was able to set record revenues, thanks largely to its iPod.

According to HollywoodReporter.com, "Apple posted its first-ever quarter of more than $10 billion in revenues in part due to sales of the iPod, which proved a popular Christmas gift worldwide."

Revenues seemed to skyrocket during the company's fiscal first quarter which ended Dec. 27. The 6 percent increase, during this period, that brought revenues to $10.2 billion, was partly due to sales of Apple's iPod.

Unfortunately, this grand achievement was overshadowed when news surfaced that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was investigating Apple to see if it was concealing the fact that CEO Steve Jobs was in failing health.

According to HollywoodReporter.com, "On a conference call Wednesday, the first question was about Jobs, and it was answered by both COO Timothy Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer."

"The values of our company are extremely well entrenched," Cook said. "We believe that we're on the face of the earth to make great products, and that's not changing."

Oppenheimer stated assuredly that Jobs was still very much involved with the strategy and the major decisions affecting the company and that Cook runs the day-to-day operations of the company during Jobs's absence.

In the meantime, Apple set even more records by selling 22.7 million iPods, which is a 3 percent increase from the previous year.

The HollywoodReporter.com article mentions other monetary milestones that Apple had accomplished, "Cook also noted 'a tremendous pickup' in sales of Apple TV, giving credit to the box's added capability of movie rentals. Cook added, though, that 'we still consider this a hobby.' Sales of Mac computers rose 9 percent to 2.52 million but sales of iPhones fell -- not unexpectedly --14 percent to 4.3 million."