But it has been overlooked, as analysts compare Apple's sales to last year's sales, and make no compensation for the deferred revenue. They just pretend it doesn't exist. For example, they state revenues are $7.5B vs $5.3B last year. Well, since last year, they've changed the way they account for items like the iPhone and ATV. I figure they had an additional $500M in iPhone sales that they have deferred. In other words, ACTUAL sales last quarter were roughly $8B, but Apple reports $7.5B, because they deferred an additional $500M. And, yet, no one mentions $8B in sales, and if they do mention $7.5B in sales, they don't mention the deferred sales of $500M. It's one or the other, but they don't do either.

If you look at January, when Apple announced $9.6B in sales, they actually had something like $10.5B, if you add in the iPhone deferred revs. Do you think the stockprice would have plunged as much if they had announced $10.5B in sales? If Apple hadn't changed their accounting treatment of the iPhone, but had just charged people $5 for updates, like the wifi-N update, then reporting $10.5B in sales would have been just fine and dandy. Like Carl noted, this deferred revenue is NOT being reported, because it should be, when comparing this year's sales to last year's, for a valid apples-to-apples comparison.