Apple Reports 3rd Quarter Results

Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2014 third quarter ended June 28, 2014. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $37.4 billion and quarterly net profit of $7.7 billion, or $1.28 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $35.3 billion and net profit of $6.9 billion, or $1.07 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 39.4 percent compared to 36.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 59 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple’s board of directors has declared a cash dividend of $.47 per share of the Company’s common stock. The dividend is payable on August 14, 2014, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on August 11, 2014.

“Our record June quarter revenue was fueled by strong sales of iPhone and Mac and the continued growth of revenue from the Apple ecosystem, driving our highest EPS growth rate in seven quarters,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We are incredibly excited about the upcoming releases of iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, as well as other new products and services that we can’t wait to introduce.”

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Apple Patent To Smarten Up iPhone's Security Lock

Smartphone locking is often seen as a necessary but sometimes annoying tool. Punching in a pincode or even using the newer fingerprint scanners can be a pain when just tooling around at home or sitting in a car.

It appears Apple is looking into this issue. The US Patent and Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple on Thursday, 7-3, which details technology that can sense users' locations and then modify their phone's unlocking code -- a smart lock, so to speak.

A drawing in Apple's patent application shows how the smart lock system 

could detect home devices.  Courtesy: US Patent and Trademark Office.

The idea is for an iPhone to be able to recognize users' typical locations, like their home, work, and car, based on GPS or a known Wi-Fi network. Then, the system will adjust the level of security to unlock their phones. For example, at home, possibly no passcode would be required; in a place users go often, like a grocery store, there might be a fingerprint or simple code; and in faraway or crowded places, a higher security threshold would be necessary to unlock the phone.

"Because some locations may be inherently more secure, such as a user's home or office, these locations may be considered 'safe' and require less stringent security," Apple wrote in its patent application. "It can be desirable to have decreased security requirements when the mobile device is at a secure location. Conversely, some locations may be considered higher risk or 'unsecure.' In these locations, it can be desirable to implement stronger security protections."

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Credit: cnet.com