Early last week, Apple Inc. (AAPL) shipment estimate for the Retina MacBook Pro improved to 1-2 weeks. On Thursday, the estimate continued to show improvement, moving up to less than a week, with AAPL’s online store estimating that the 2.3 Ghz and 2.6 Ghz configurations of Retina MacBook Pro will be shipping within 5-7 days.

As noted by AppleInsider, alongside the updated ship times, Apple has also gone ahead to allow users to configure the Retina MacBook Pro to add 512- or 768-gigabyte SSDs to the base model, 2.3 Ghz quad-core i7 Intel Processor. These latest shipping estimates are a result of Apple increasing manufacturing of the MacBook Pros and catching up with the initial demand for the product. During Apple’s Q3 earnings call, CEO Tim Cook estimated that Apple would catch up with the backlog of of demand in August, and has done exactly that.

Apple’s Retina MacBook Pro brings the company’s revolutionary Retina Display, introduced with the iPhone 4 to the MacBook line. Apple in the past has been successful in improving shipping time with many of its new launched products, including the iPhone 4S and the new iPad, which experienced extreme demand during the first weeks of release.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) introduced their new Retina MacBook Pro during the company’s annual WWDC conference and since then has begun shipping the new device to all of its retail stores, as well as making it available for purchase online. About a week ago, the shipping estimate for the Retina MacBook Pro improved to 2-3 weeks. Since then, the shipping estimate has improved to 1-2 weeks.

This is typically the amount of time an in-demand product takes to ship after being on sale for several weeks. Apple’s other products, such as the iPhone 4S, and iPad also carried a similar shipping estimate upon release. This recent improvement to 1-2 weeks originally occurred in the Asia-Pacific market but is also spreading to other markets around the world, including the US, Europe, and Africa. The shipping estimates were at 3-4 weeks roughly 36 hours after the initial introduction.

Shipping estimates continue to improve around the world as Apple continues to increase manufacturing and output and the initial burst in demand slows a bit. In a few weeks, it is likely that the shipping estimate will improve to a week or less on both the online stores and in Apple’s brick and mortar stores, with the online store giving users the option to customize the Retina MacBook Pro with better specs.

During Apple’s Q3 earnings call Apple CEO Tim Cook estimated that the company would be able to catchup the huge backlog of demand sometime in August.

{via MacRumors}

Apple (AAPL) reported a growth in sales over last quarter with over 3.95 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, an increase of 14%, 3.34 iPhone units shipped, and 7.54 million iPods during the quarter, a 20% decline overall.

Apple also sold 9.25 million iPads during the quarter, boosting sales and increasing demand for their product. Apple is also expected to add new hardware to their Mac lineup tomorrow, alongside the release of Mac OS X Lion.

“We’re thrilled to deliver our best quarter ever, with revenue up 82 percent and profits up 125 percent,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Right now, we’re very focused and excited about bringing iOS 5 and iCloud to our users this fall.”

Apple’s expected revenue for the fourth quarter of 2011 is expected to be $25 billion and earnings per diluted share of $5.50. So far, Apple’s revenue is being led by the iPhone, followed by iPad sales. iPod sales have decreased sharply, with 50% of iPod sales being from the iPod touch alone.

Apple is still pushing ahead and staying ahead of the game. Let’s wait and see what they have in store for Mac OS X Lion and new hardware tomorrow. Stay tuned, we’ll keep you updated.

Apple sold 3.47 Million Macs in the quarter. Which is a growth in sales of 33% over the previous year. The Mac is certainly not dead!

They also sold 8.4 Million iPhones, which is an astounding 60% growth over the same quarter in the previous year. Remember this does not include the bulk of iPhone 4 sales yet to come this quarter.

iPods sold were 9.41 Million, and total iPads an impressive 3.27 Million.

Steve Jobs issued this statement…

It was a phenomenal quarter that exceeded our expectations all around, including the most successful product launch in Apple’s history with iPhone 4,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPad is off to a terrific start, more people are buying Macs than ever before, and we have amazing new products still to come this year.

Peter Oppenheimer had this to say about the future…

“We’re really pleased to have generated over $4 billion of cash during the quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue of about $18 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $3.44”

Did Apple impress you? Or do you think they can do better? Have you say in the comments…

Adjusting the figures from last year Apple generated about $2.00 per share, on revenues of around $10 Billion. This year the prediction is for $3.00 per share and revenues of $15 Billion.

This new accounting practice may be one reason that the markets have seen AAPL slide back to almost $240 per share today. Another may still be uncertainty over the iPhone 4 reception issue.

For those who want to listen in there is a live webcast of the event.

WEBCAST: Apple will provide live audio streaming of its FY 10 Third Quarter Results Conference Call using Apple’s industry-leading QuickTime® multimedia software. The live webcast will begin at 2:00 p.m. PDT on July 20, 2010 at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq310/ and will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter. Viewers simply need a copy of QuickTime, available for download from www.apple.com/quicktime, to listen to the conference call.

Are you expecting Apple to beat analysts expectations or fall short? Make your guess in the comments…