Notes from the Apple financial conference call

-Apple experienced higher than expected warranty expenses due to screen issues with some PowerBook 15-inch models and presumably iBook logic-board issues.

-Apple is incredibly optimistic about its newly formed strategic alliance with HP, but cannot predict additional revenue figures that may stem from the deal.

-Even with a planned increased in supply of iPods, Apple was unable to meet holiday demand for the product.

-Dual processor Power Mac G5 sales were much higher than initially expected, forcing the company to restructure its offerings late in the year.

-Apple now retains 8000 outlets for sales of its iPod digital music player, and these store-fronts will only be enhanced by the HP deal when it comes online this summer.

-The company has no plans to migrate other iApps to the Windows platform.

-PowerBook sales reached a record-high of 195,000 units for the quarter.

-Revenues from sales of Panther amounted to over $60 million, exceeding expectations. This represents the best ever first quarter revenue for an Apple OS upgrade.

-Apple upped it's cash-pile by $225 million, which was attributed to strong earnings combined with superior capital management.

-Following the holiday shopping season, Apple is very pleased with the iPod pilot program currently running at Best Buy retail outlets. In addition, approximately 50 Best Buy locations currently sell Apple CPU-related products.

-Higher Education sales rose strongly for the quarter, while K-12 sales fell shortly.

-Apple retains an install base of 20 million units capable of running Mac OS X, with approximately half of these units already having upgraded to some flavor of the new OS.

-Apple retail store sales accounted for $273 million in revenue and approximately $9 million in profit.

-Among other aspects of its retail outlets, Apple will be enhancing its Genius Bar services in the coming year.

-Sales at Apple's new Tokyo mega-store reached record highs that averaged around $1 million per week.

-Apple Retail Store traffic accelerated for the quarter to 5.9 million visitors, verses 4.3 million for the September quarter. This breaks down to approximately 6,000 visitors per store, per week.

-Financial details of the Apple/Pepsi Giveaway are under non-disclosure.

-Just over 2/3 iPod sales for the quarter were US sales.

-Apple plans to open two new 'high-profile' stores in 2004; A new San Francisco location is expected this Spring and will be followed by a Fall opening of a retail outlet in Osaka, Japan.

- 37% of Apple's revenue sales were non-CPU related sales. Of this 37%, 13% pertained to sales of Apple's iPod.

-Apple expects its March quarter will mark the third consecutive quarter of double digit growth in revenue AND earnings.