And now the bad news from the earnings call

Yesterday's Apple earnings call wasn't all roses.  Sure, they beat analysts' expectations handily, and set records for revenue in a quarter and total iPod sales.  Overall, Apple really did well – especially internationally – when compared to competitors like Microsoft, Sony, Dell, etc.

But the numbers weren't all good.

The biggest standout was iPhone numbers.  While they were higher than last year's Q1, iPhone sales were down almost 40% from the previous quarter.  Apple claimed to have sold 6.9 million iPhones last quarter (beating Blackberry etc.) and dropped to 4.4 million during the Christmas Q4.  There was a loss anticipated in sales but I don't think many expected it to be as significant. Even the 'modest' (2.5X) gains over the year ago Q1 have to be taken with a grain of salt. Those one year ago were EDGE iPhones being sold in only a few countries vs. this year, when 3G iPhones were being sold in over 50 countries.

While MacBooks – fresh off the October new model introductions (up over 30% from the year ago quarter) – sold like hotcakes, Mac desktop sales declined.   Mac Pros, Mac Minis and iMacs are all expected to be upgraded in the coming months so many people may have been holding off on their purchase.  Also, the PC industry in general has moved to laptops as their preferred means of computing, thanks in no small part to Netbooks.

iPods were the big wild card this year.  Analyst expectations hovered around 18 million units.  Apple sold over 22 million.  But at the same time, Apple's US iPod sales decreased year over year.  International sales obviously made up for this and much more, saving Apple's bottom line.

Also, Apple's opening of 25 (only half in the US) Stores is a sign of slowdown.  Recent years have seen more than 40 domestic stores/year.

Don't get me wrong, Apple is to be congratulated for having a banner quarter in this tech landscape of poor earnings, cutbacks and closings.  However, there is cause for concern in some of their bigger markets.