As promised, Steve's medical leave ended with the month of June. Last January, Apple announced that CEO Steve Jobs would take a leave of absense to deal with medical issues for approximately six months. Since then, we've learned that Steve had a liver transplant and today Apple confirmed his return.

"Steve Jobs is back to work. He is at Apple a few days a week and working from home the other days," Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said. "We're glad to have him back."

That's great news for the company and, more importantly, for Steve himself. There has been much noise about Steve during the past six months, including Apple's future without him, who might take over and the company's obligation to keep investors informed about the health of their CEO. Here's hoping the din dies down and that Steve continues to enjoy a long and productive career at Apple.

It's a good thing Gene Munster shaded his anticipatory numbers a bit over the weekend, otherwise he'd be in the market for a new crystal ball. As mentioned yesterday, the signs were pointing to a bigger opening weekend for the latest handset from Apple, and the results did not disappoint: in a company press release this morning, Apple announced sales of 'over a million' iPhone 3G S units through Sunday 6/21. Also noted in the brief release were the six million downloads of the iPhone 3.0 software update; no details on the number of iPod touch users who have also updated.

In addition to the raw number -- impressive enough -- there are two other tidbits in this release that bear mentioning. One, it's got a quote from Steve Jobs; this reinforces the notion that El Jefe Esteban is on his way back to the iCEO seat on a more active basis, as reported in the Wall Street Journal on Friday. Two, it looks like bloggers and journalists aren't the only ones having a problem with the odd spacing on Apple's latest product name; the press release repeatedly refers to the new phone as the "iPhone 3GS." We feel your pain.

[via AllThingsD]

Everyone's favorite Apple analyst, Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray, is positively bullish on Apple and the iPhone.

In a forecast released today and reported in AppleInsider, Munster says he expects Apple to sell a half-million units of the iPhone 3G S this weekend. This is much more than the 270,000 first-generation iPhones sold in the first weekend in 2007, but pales in comparison to the 1 million mark set last year with the release of the iPhone 3G.

The difference this year? When the iPhone 3G was released in 2008, the new equipment was also accompanied by a drop in price and availability in 21 countries. For new users, the 3G S is the same price as the 3G, and the release of the 3G S tomorrow will only happen in 8 key market countries.

Munster's other prognostications include a total of 3 million iPhones sold in June for a quarterly total of 5 million, and an estimate of 7 million sold in the upcoming September quarter. He continues to rate AAPL as a buy, and has a $180 target share price for Apple.

New York City's flagship Apple Store, located on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, is doing tremendous business. According to The New York Post, that store raked in $440 million in one year. Of course, the location doesn't hurt. It's right by Central Park and the huge, glass cube is a real tourist draw.

The Post also notes that the SoHo store pulled in $100 million, but didn't provide any stats on the West 14th Street store. In the meantime, construction has begun on what's rumored to be a fourth NYC store, expected to open at the corner of 67th and Broadway on Manhattan's Upper West Side later this year. If that store and a rumored Brooklyn store are opened, NYC would boast six stores total (including the Staten Island store).

Apple intends to open 25 new stores for fiscal year 2009, half of them outside the United States.

[via AppleInsider]

Although overall shipments for Macs are at an 18-month low , worldwide numbers continue to climb. Macworld UK pointed to a Gartner study evaluating UK PC shipments for the first quarter of 2009. Apple has moved up, joining the top five PC manufacturers in terms of units shipped for the first time.

According to Gartner, Apple shipped 143 thousand units in the UK the first quarter of 2009, accounting for 4.8% marketshare. That represents a 6.6% growth year over year, which is in sharp contrast to the 5.1 percent decrease in the overall UK PC market.

At 4.8 percent, Apple is still a relatively small player -- the number four manufacturer, Toshiba, shipped nearly twice as many units -- but these numbers prove that Apple adoption is remaining strong, regardless of the economy.

The figures that will probably get the most play in the non-Mac press are those from Acer, the number three manufacturer in the UK. Acer's year-over-year growth in terms of units shipped was up a whopping 40.6%, due in large part to its price-conscious netbook offerings.

Apple and Acer approach the PC market from opposite ends of the spectrum; Acer goes for high-volume, low-margin sales, Apple does high-margin, lower-volume, yet both companies are succeeding in an industry that is declining worldwide.

What does this mean? Well, to me, it means that despite Microsoft's quips, price doesn't necessarily dictate market share.

Apple reported amazing earnings in its conference call last week, but SwitchtoaMac.com says not so fast -- while it's true that there was a lot of sun shining in Apple's report, there is one small shadow that they obviously didn't mention: their shipments of new Macs have started to drop off for the first time in 5.5 years. And they're the lowest they've been in a year and a half.

A problem? Not a terrible one, but as you can see from the chart over there, there is a definite downturn in new Mac shipments. That might actually be good news for Apple, though -- with the economy doing a nice downturn lately, less inventory might shore up sales a bit, and keep their budgets in line with estimations. Of course it would also mean fewer Mac sales (and despite the recent popularity of the iPhone and the iPod, Macs still make up the majority of Apple's revenue), but if customers aren't there, that's better than having warehouses full of computers paid for but not actually sold.

It's definitely not a sign that the company is going down in flames (in fact, all evidence says exactly the opposite), but it may be a sign that Apple's amazing growth is slowing down a bit.

Thanks, Larry T!

This might be obvious to most of us, but the WSJ feels it's fit to print: while Steve Jobs' reimbursed budget for his private jet has been fairly considerable over the past year or so -- $580,000 for a six-month period a year ago and $30,000 during a quarter period, the past few reports have seen the budget much, much lower. For the first three months of this year they didn't pay him at all, and for the previous six months before that they've only reimbursed him for $4,000.

What does this mean? Nothing, really -- while the WSJ points to it as evidence Jobs hasn't been traveling overseas to help bring the iPhone to China and carry out other big Apple deals, we've already known that Jobs wasn't involved much in the day-to-day business anyway; besides, it's hard to recuperate at home and fly around the world simultaneously. There are lots of other reasons for the budget to be down -- that $580,000 period would have been right around the manufacturing point of the iPhone 3G, and since most of the focus lately is on software, it's not like Jobs needs to be jetsetting off exotic plants to make sure production is on schedule.

And of course gas prices are back down quite a bit, and companies are under a little more scrutiny and pressure in this economy, so teleconferencing may be just as good as a plane ticket these days. Apple is still saying Jobs is expected back in June, and though these plane figures are interesting, the fact that Apple is still confident of his return says more about the company's future.

Today was a landmark day for the good ol' boys (and girls) at 1 Infinite Loop as they again posted record-breaking quarterly results. Profit was a svelte $1.21 billion for a grand total of $8.16 billion in revenue; or, as the guys in Wallstreet see it: $1.33 per diluted share. All of this is apparently good news as after-hours trading has shares of AAPL up about 4 points from the days close of $121.51. If you haven't already, you can check out some of our highlights of what drove those numbers as well as the full press release from Apple here. Also, MacJournals did a fantastic job covering the call via their Twitter feed, which can be found here.

One continuing theme through the course of the call was the economy's overall effect on Apple's numbers. One noticeable effect was that professional and education sales were down during the March quarter. Even with the release of an entirely refreshed line of Mac desktops, the quarter saw an overall decrease in Mac marketshare. It wasn't all bad for Apple, however, as iPod sales (particularly the iPod Touch) were up enough to seemingly offset the bulk of the lagging Mac sales.

While the results themselves are always nice to hear, the most interesting section of the quarterly call is the question and answer section that follows. The answers, while somewhat scripted, give the listeners a chance to hear Apple execs think and speak on their feet regarding Apple's results and plans for the future.

One of the more notable topics during this discussion was Apple's opinion on the netbook market. Tim Cook took the question and in an answer that was truly Apple said, that netbooks are "junky ... not a consumer experience that we would put the Mac brand on," while quickly following-up with a good, old-fashioned "If we can find a way to deliver an innovative product ... then we'll do that." If you remember the days before the video iPod, then this conversation should be very familiar to you. For a good overview of the Q&A check out MacRumors' excellent post on the subject.

If you don't care about the financial results and have grown tired of hearing Apple dance around whether they're going to release a netbook, then there is at least one bright spot in all of this. According Peter Oppenheimer, Apple is pleasantly awaiting the joyous return of Steve Jobs in June (we miss you Steve). I don't think anyone was really expecting any more or less information than that, but here's to hoping Stevie J. returns and brings with him all-new iPhones, netbooks, and pots of gold.

Overall, the results were very positive for a company that deals in "luxury" products given the current economic climate. I hope that in the future Apple continues to succeed and that this is the last quarter we hear of in which Apple loses marketshare to anyone.

[Via Engadget, MacRumors, and MacJournals]

Apple released its second quarter earnings today, posting revenues of $8.16 billion, a profit of $1.21 billion ($1.33 per share). This includes sales of:

• 2.22 million Macs
• 11.01 million iPods
• 3.79 million iPhones
  

During the conference call, it was reported that Apple is just hours away from selling its billionth app through the App Store. Approximately 37 million iPhone and iPod Touch units sold altogether.

Update (5:37 p.m.): There are plans to bring the iPhone to China within the next year. It was also reported that Steve Jobs is expected to make a return to his duties at the end of June.

The press release detailing the earnings is below the fold.

Tonight Apple released four new Get a Mac ads that feature the same, and ever so lovable, PC and Mac characters. In the first new ad, "Time Traveler," PC travels into the future to see if PCs still crash. In the ad called "Stacks," PC is shuffling through thousands of photos to find the one he is looking for; Mac then tells him about the facial recognition in iPhoto '09.

In "Legal Copy," PC starts telling how "easy to use" he is, but as he talks, his disclaimer copy appears at the bottom of the sceen. The final new ad, "Biohazard Suit," PC explains his biohazard suit as he tells Mac about all of the recent viruses going around for Windows.

While these ads are funny, you can't help but wonder if this is Apple's response to the recent "Laptop Hunters" Microsoft ads, although with the production schedules involved it's likely that the new Apple ads were already in the can or at least well underway when Lauren and her pals hit the screen. You can watch all of these new ads by going to the Get a Mac page on the Apple site, and we'll be talking about them on the talkcast in just a few minutes.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

A panel on CNBC's Fast Money was recently remarking on AAPL's apparent invulnerability to the recession that's currently affecting the United States, noting that it's jumped 40% so far this year, outperforming the NASDAQ. J.P. Mark of Farmhouse Equity Research suggests that the excitement that persists among Apple's retail employees customers is a part of that performance.

As for the stock's immediate future, the panel and Mr. Mark point to this summer's concurrent release of iPhone OS 3.0 and a likely new iPhone model as a powerful stimulus. Finally, Mr. Mark notes that it isn't often that an electronic gadget becomes more useful and valuable over time.

I definitely agree with that. My iPhone is now almost two years old and it does much more than it did when I first opened its box. Also, if a new iPhone does appear this summer just as my current contract is expiring, I'll almost certainly buy it.

I don't know if you watched the Jon Stewart interview with CNBC host Jim Cramer on the Daily Show last night. Stewart and Cramer have been feuding for a week about Cramer's bad financial advice, and the lack of any deep or meaningful reporting on CNBC as the market was melting down.

As part of the back and forth (and I suggest you watch the whole clip) Stewart pulled out an old interview with Cramer where he talked about hurting Apple stock by claiming neither AT&T or Verizon was interested in selling the iPhone.

Cramer was a hedge fund manager at the time, and may have wanted a quick short term profit by manipulating stock sales with misleading information. Cramer said it was legal, Stewart questioned the ethics. In the end, the SEC will have to decide.

AAPL seems to be one of the top tech stocks that is buffeted by rumors, good and bad. In this case, here's a guy telling us how it works.

Here's a link to the older interview on YouTube. The part about Apple begins about 3:30 into the clip.

Thanks Jose for the tip and the link.

Correction: One of our readers points out that Cramer was not running a Hedge Fund in 2006 but gave it up in 2001. Thanks Rick for setting the time line straight.

It's not an earthshaking surprise, but good news nevertheless, that advertising metrics show the share of Apple devices on the web continues to grow.

The latest indication is from Admob, a firm that tracks ad requests from more than 6,000 published sites in 160 foreign countries.

According to their latest report:

Worldwide requests from Apple devices grew 28% month over month to 1.2 billion in January. Building on its strong December, iPod Touch growth outpaced iPhone growth in top markets. The iPod Touch now represents 40% of Apple requests, up from 20% in September.

The Admob data confirms that the Apple iPhone (17 percent share) and iPod touch (12 percent share) are together the number one device for mobile internet useage, making 51% of all ad requests. This has to be good news for Apple, who is riding the recession along with the rest of the tech sector. Other highlights from the report indicate that Blackberrys have a 19 percent share while the G1 (HTC Touch) is the number 18 device in the U.S. with 0.9% share in December. The Google Android phone has a 3% OS share in the US, a good number for a product so new to the scene.

Apple may be rolling out even more phones to try and hold and extend past market gains. There are also continued rumors of a US $99.00 iPhone.

Piqqem, a service that crowdsources stock picks, has some interesting demographic data about who says they're buying AAPL. Among female users, Apple is the most highly rated stock to buy.

The lowest-rated stock is Dillards -- which leads to an interesting analysis by Alex Salkever, director of research and marketing at Piqqem. He says that focused specialty retailers are better at weathering the economic downturn so far than large department stores.

"And while Apple has seen sales growth in its chain stores level off, I submit that a big reason why Apple has held strong is due to the attraction its products, stores, and services hold to women beyond the teenage years," he writes.

Personally, I think linking womens' stock choice specifically to the retail experience falls somewhere between a little chauvinist and a little short-sighted. AAPL is also the most popular stock among all of Piqqem's users, for example. It certainly can't hurt Apple's business, though, to appeal to women, teens, and other key demographics with disposable income right now.

Many analysts point to Apple's strong cash position as reason enough to buy AAPL. Indeed, Apple's stock price has recovered some since Macworld, and is trading around $98 a share. It's certainly shy of their 52-week high of $192 a share, but it's well off their 52-week low of $78.20.