Notes of interest from Apple's Q3 2014 conference call

Participating in the call were Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, and recently-appointed Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri. Former CFO Peter Oppenheimer announced his retirement in March.

Highlights

• More than 20 million people watched the WWDC keynote in 2014
• Earnings per share up 20% y/y, the highest growth rate in 7 quarters
• iPhone sales up 55% year over year in Brazil, Russia, India, and China
• Apple ended the quarter with $164.5 billion in cash and cash equivalents, $133.7 billion of which was offshore
• Apple has completed 29 acquisitions since the end of FY 2013, 5 since the end of Q2 2014
• $2 billion in commercial short paper obligations outstanding at the end of June
• Tim Cook says Apple has sold more iPads than even they would have predicted at the beginning
• Apple sells 2.5 iPads for every Mac in K12 education
• Revenue growth in China up 26% year-over-year, stronger than Apple's internal predictions
• Less than 25% of iPhones sold on a traditional subsidy plan last quarter
• Apple "has the capability" to acquire a sizable company and manage it, if "more like [Beats or IBM] presented themselves"

Apple's iPhone business

35.2 million iPhone sales are the most ever sold in the June quarter

Apple believes new product rumors resulted in purchase delay

Tax and regulatory changes — scheduled VAT increases and government instruction not to incentivize network switchers — affected iPhone sales in Japan

iPhone in the enterprise: Medical device leader Metronic has developed more than 175 internal iOS apps deployed to more than 16,000 iPhones. Nestle has deployed more than 25,000 iPhones; NASA has more than 26,000

iPhone growing at 2x the overall mobile phone market in China

Apple believes iPhone trade-ins are "hugely beneficial" for the company's ecosystem, especially as it enables price-sensitive consumers in the same or different countries

Trade-in customers may be more likely to purchase another Apple product, but "difficult to quantify with certainty"

Apple "incredibly bullish" that customers on quick-upgrade plans from U.S. carriers will upgrade to new generations quickly

Apple's iPad business

Tim Cook says iPad sales met Apple expectations, but they "realize they didn't meet yours."

iPad sales were gated by reduced channel inventory, continue to be in the 4-6 week range

iPad in the enterprise: Qantas has deployed more than 15,000 iPads; Sweden has deployed more than 100,000

More than 13 million iPads sold for education globally

iPad's penetration in business is only 20%; Cook believes there is "substantial" room for improvement, which was the driver behind the IBM agreement

"The market is very bifurcated on iPad. In the BRIC countries, the iPad did extremely well. In the developed countries, like the U.S., the market is clearly weaker there," Cook said.

Apple's iTunes and App Store businesses

iTunes billings grew 25% year over year to reach an all-time high

Developers have now earned more than $20 billion on the App Store, nearly half in the last 12 months

iTunes software and services "almost doubling" every quarter in China

Apple's Mac business

Macs saw double-digit growth in K-12 education driven primarily by the MacBook Air

Mac sales up 39% in China year over year