The Short Names

UPDATE: I’m checking with Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) right now to clarify whether this is a new product, or just an existing product that will have to be shipped more heavily in order to keep up with demand (Apple wasn’t willing to say—they did say it was not iPhones). A post at 9to5mac.com does a good job of detailing the back-and-forth conversation between Apple and analysts, but they don’t come to any better conclusions either.

Apple surprised analysts today by saying it will have to pay to ship extra products to stores in time for the holidays, but wouldn’t say what it was shipping. During the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call, Apple COO Tim Cook said: “I can’t be specific about the product,” but it will result in an “abnormal and substantial increase” in shipping costs for the company. Cook apologized he couldn’t be more specific, but added “you have to have some fun on these calls.”

Release | Webcast.

The company probably wouldn’t have said anything at all, but it was apparent from the company’s financial outlook for the first quarter, which includes higher revenue figures than the fourth quarter, but lower earnings per share. Apple’s CFO Peter Oppenheimer listed a number of reasons why gross margins would fall, including new products that they will announce soon, products that will deliver “greater value” to customers that will have lower gross margins and increased costs due to air freight (which has nothing to do with the iPhone).

On the call today, no one asked Apple about any questions regarding upcoming products, like a tablet. But during the call, Cook was willing to talk about the increase in mobile phone competition. “We feel great about how we ended our fiscal year,” he said, noting that they sold 7.4 million phones in Q4, which translates to more than 20 million phones for the fiscal year, a 78 percent increase over the year before. “When you look at the ecosystem with iTunes, and that there’s 85,000 apps, we are a country mile longer than anyone else. And with the strong product pipeline we have, we feel very good about competing with anyone…People are still trying to catch up the first iPhone we announced two years ago. We’ve long since moved beyond that.”

To be sure, sales of the new iPhone 3GS are hot and even outstripped demand anticipated by Apple. Cook said inventory was short up until September in many countries, and even early October for others. The iPhone 3GS is being sold in 64 countries today, and is forecast to be in more than 80 by the end of the calendar year. The iPhone will ship in China on Oct. 30, and is expected to be sold by additional carriers in both Canada and the UK, Apple said. It will also ship soon in Korea.

Looking ahead to Apple’s first quarter 2010, the company expects revenue in the range of about $11.3 billion to $11.6 billion and earnings per share in the range of about $1.70 to $1.78.

Related

• Earnings: Apple Blows Away Expectations; Sells A Record Number of Macs, iPhones
• Earnings Call: Apple Says It Can’t Make Enough New iPhones To Meet Demand