iPad sales did come in a bit light of expectations -- 14.1 million vs. street guidance of 14.5 million and iPad sales were almost exactly the same as the year ago quarter.
Or you can just tune in to hear the beautiful piano music until Tim Cook and the others take over the line.
Also the sales of the 5S & 5C came very late in the quarter too -- Didn't go on sale until late September.
@JoannaStern: According to Shazam Apple is playing Preludes - Livre II: La terrasse des audiences due clair de lune, Pascal Roge in advance of the conference call
Apple still has lots and lots of cash -- close to $147 billion
@RebeccaJarvis: AMAZING. I was expecting "Music rich people like..."
That $147 billion in cash accounts for 10% of all cash held by U.S. corporates.
Cook is talking up the great Apple products and giving a recap of all the new product announcements -- iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPad Air, iPad Mini with Retina.
And Cook's classic line: "All of these are products only Apple could have delivered."
150 million iPhones sold in the fiscal year.. That is a lot of phones..
Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO, up now on the call.
CFO Oppenheimer is pleased with iPhone growth in developing markets -- Latin America, Russia, India, etc.
Oppenheimer says iPad sales exceeded Apple's expectations for the quarter as the company was gearing up to launch the new iPad Air and iPad Mini with Retina.
Oppenheimer points to research that says iPhone users spend 53 percent more time on their phones than Android users.
Lots of repetition by Oppenheimer of some of the things we heard at the iPad event last week: iOS 7 and the iPad are used more by people than other tablets, companies are using custom iPad apps for business.
Apple shares are bouncing back a bit -- could be investors like what they heard from CEO Tim Cook about the "capital allocation" -- the buyback and dividend.
60 Billion Apps have now been downloaded according to Apple CFO Oppenheimer..
Apple has 416 stores, including 162 stores outside U.S.
35.5 billion in cash in the U.S.
$111 plus billion in cash overseas
76% of Apple's cash is overseas..
Now time for the hungry analysts to ask questions.
Question to Cook about the new technologies, including the 64-bit processor in the iPhone: "We have the first 64-bit smartphone and this is our first use of the fingerprint sensor... These new innovations led us to have the best iPhone launch ever."
iPhone 5C is described as a "mid-tier offer," as opposed to "high-end," and Apple says it wants to grow in both categories. "Our entry iPhone is iPhone 4S."
And the big question about new "product categories."
"Can you reiterate that we should expect new products in 2014?" is the question put to Cook.
Getting excited for this answer..
Apple has more than $111 billion cash overseas. Compare with Microsoft total $77 billion cash and Google with $56.5 billion.
"I didn't say you would see this in the first part of next year. I said you would see new products in the fall of this year and across 2014. I stand by that," says Cook. "In terms of new product categories, if you look what Apple has in hardware, software and services -- I think no one else has a set of skills on this. We believe we can use our skills at building other great categories that are in areas where we do not participate today. We are pretty confident about that."
A typically vague comment from Cook. What were you expecting? A new iWatch?!
"We had a good quarter in China. We obviously want to do better," Cook says on China.
Come on, someone ask about the iPad and Mac growth opportunities.
We've got a lot of people tuned in. What would you guys ask Tim Cook if you were on this call?
Investors like what they are hearing so far -- Apple shares now down just 1% just under $6 a share at this time.
@SandyCannold: And yet, no word from Carl Icahn, who last tweeted 4 hours ago today
@rebeccajarvis Icahn talked to Charlie Gasparino earlier today and was still agitating for a bigger buyback. Icahn pointed out that Apple has free cash flow of $50 billion a year.
And the call has begun. Here's that link one more time: events.apple.com.edgesuite.net
