Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) reported revenue of $9.6 billion in the quarter ended December 29, up 35 percent from $7.1 billion in the year-ago period. Net income rose 57 percent to $1.6 billion. The company sold 2.3 million iPhones in the quarter, compared to the 1.1 million sold during the previous quarter. iPods unit sales were up 5 percent to 22 million for the quarter, behind analyst estimates of 24-plus million. The company was slammed after hours, dropping over 11 percent, on conservative guidance of $6.8 billion in revenue for the coming quarter.

Release | Webcast | Transcript (via SeekingAlpha)

Conference Call: Earnings guidance dominated the discussion on the conference call, as analysts begged CFO Peter Oppenheimer to provide more details about the forecast. He refused give up too much on this, however. As for the iPhone, which contributed $241 million to the quarter’s revenue, the company is sticking by previous goals of hitting the 10 million unit sales mark sometime in 2008. But in terms of iPhone strategy, they won’t say much. Apple still expects to do an Asia launch in the year, but there are no new details on that, nor is there anything to report on a China launch. Same again with new versions of the iPhone: it’s safe to say that if they do introduce a 3G model, it won’t be on an earnings call. It’s believed that a “significant” number of iPhones were bought to be unlocked, but there’s no official number being given. This is due in part to the fact that this year was the company’s first Christmas and it doesn’t know what to expect in terms of when iPhones bought as gifts will be activated. The whole issue of unlocked iPhones is being spun, fairly, as a sign of strong interest in the product. 46 percent of iPhones were sold directly. As noted above, iPod unit sales were fairly flat during the quarter, and it was acknowledged that the iPhone may have had some role in cannibalizing iPod sales, though it didn’t say how much.