Apple's fourth-quarter profit soared past expectations on extremely strong sales of the iPhone, but revenue was a little light, and the company left itself a lot of wiggle room heading into what it called a "challenging" environment.
For the company's fourth fiscal quarter, or the period ended September 27, Apple reported revenue of $7.9 billion, compared with revenue of $6.2 billion in the same quarter last year. Net income was $1.14 billion, or earnings per share of $1.26. Analysts had been expecting revenue of $8 billion and earnings per share of $1.11.

iPhone sales were astonishing during the quarter: Apple sold 6.9 million iPhone 3Gs during the quarter, which was far more than analysts had been anticipating and more than the total number of original iPhones sold in a year. Apple lifted the kimono a bit on just how much revenue the iPhone is contributing to the company's future prospects, explaining just how much revenue the iPhone would have contributed to Apple's results if the company didn't use subscription-based accounting methods for that product.