Today, Apple is announcing its Q3 2012 earnings results.

This past quarter has been a phenomenal one for Apple in terms of products. Last month, Apple announced major software updates for iOS and OS X, iOS 6 and OS X Mountain Lion. In addition, the company released major updates to both the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air notebook families. Apple has been selling its new Retina display third-generation iPad, 1080P-capable Apple TV, and iPhone 4S for many months now, so it will be interesting to see the continuous sales numbers for those products. While Apple has been selling those aforementioned products, rumors and reports with information about a smaller version of the iPad and an iPhone with a larger display have been rampant.

Updates: 

– Apple reports Q3 2012 results: 35 billion in revenue, $8.8b profit, 26m iPhones, 17m iPads, 4m Macs  

– OS X Mountain Lion will be out on the Mac App Store tomorrow 

You can find the live blog of the call – where Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer typically speak – after the break:

– We should be starting in about 15 minutes.

– Apple currently down around $28-29 in after hours trading:

– Call starting: Cook and Oppenheimer to be on call.

– Oppenheimer talking about the earnings covered in the press release. YOY growth of 23%, 6.5b increase over last June quarter. Growth attributed to strong iPad and iPhone growth.

– Oppenheimer talking Macs. 4 million sold. 2% YOY growth from last June quarter. He’s talking about new MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs.

– Best quarter ever for education sales.

– Oppenheimer talking Mountain Lion. It’s coming tomorrow. Talking about iCloud integration

– Talking iPods: 6.8 million sold in the quarter. Ahead of Apple’s expectations. iPod touch over half of all iPods sold. iPod has 70% marketshare of Mp3 players.

– iTunes Store: 1.8 billion dollars in sales thanks to music, apps, etc. Oppenheimer talking iTunes Store expansion in Asia.

– Great interest in iTunes U. 14 million iTunes U app downloads.

– Oppenheimer talking iPhones. 250 carriers in over 100 countries. 8.3 million iPhones in channel inventory. Apple remains in its target range for inventory of iPhones.

– Oppenheimer talking the importance and growth of iPhone in the enterprise.

-On to iPad: 17 million iPads sold. Very strong YOY growth. iPad is sold in 97 countries. $9.2 billion in iPad + iPad accessory revenue.

-Oppenheimer saying that iPad is very successful in the United States education market. $399 iPad 2 price drop is helping in education. Twice as many iPads as Macs in U.S. education. Apple is very happy with this. Single school school district has bought 11K iPads. This is for students and teachers. Teachers at this school (Mansfield) will be using great software and technology to personalize content for students through iPads.

– iPad in the enterprise: adoption has tripled over the last year. Talking about how British Airways and a Japanese home building company use iPads to help their own internal work and customers.

– iOS device sales: 410 million iPads, iPod touches, iPhones sold all time. 45 million sold in the quarter.

-5.5 billion dollars paid to App Store developers.

-150 million iCloud users

– Apple is very excited about iOS 6.

– 4.1 billion dollars in Apple retail sales. 11.1 million average revenue per store during the quarter. 12% increase in store visitors during the quarter.

– Talking dividend: $2.65 cents per share. The board has authorized a three year share buyback program. This was previously announced.

– Apple expecting Q4 2012 revenues of $34 billion.

– Closing: Apple is happy with these earnings. Very pleased with iPads, biggest education quarter ever in the U.S.

– Apple very excited about their upcoming products. They are “amazing.”

– Prepared remarks done. Q/A starting. Notable Q/A points: 

– Oppenheimer mentions fall transition.

– Question about China for Apple CEO Tim Cook. Cook talking iPhone sales. Apple incredibly pleased with iPhone sales results in mainland China. Cook notes that new iPad went on sale last Friday in China after resolving the trademark issue. Cook/Apple remain very excited about their opportunities in China. Very excited about the integration of new Chines services in iOS 6 and Mountain Lion.

– Question about the fall transition… Oppenheimer: “We could not be more confident in our product pipeline.” Cook: Clearly a lot of anticipation for future products.

– Cook: It’s clear that the PC market is weak. Cook: New Apple portables very well received. Launched with only 3 weeks left in the quarter.

– Question: Can Cook go into detail about Apple’s carrier discussions. Cook laughs. Apple will continue to make the very best products in the world. Carriers told Tim Cook that Apple’s iPhone have many more advantages over other devices. Apple’s engineering teams work with carriers in order to provide the most efficiency for data usage. Cook says that carriers will be motivated to provide iPhones to customers.

-Apple sold 1.3 million Apple TVs in the quarter. 4 million units.

-Apple questioned about PassBook and if that hints into Apple’s future payment plans. Cook won’t comment specifically on that.

– Call over.