Apple's Q1 2013 earnings reveal Mac and iPod sales down year-over-year

---

Apple's just released its latest figures for Q1 2013 and buried within the overall positive earnings -- about $54.5 billion in revenues and a profit of $13.1 billion -- is a surprising sales figure. For the company's recently ended quarter, Mac sales totaled 4.1 million -- that's in stark contrast to the 5.2 million sold in the previous year-ago quarter. This startling nugget comes despite the fact that Apple issued a refreshed iMac just before the close of the holiday season -- normally a boon time for sales. But as the company's earnings call revealed, these late 2012 iMacs were apparently subject to manufacturing constraints, thus preventing Apple from shipping units to all markets. As for its lagging iPod performance, that category also saw a steep decline, dropping down by nearly 3 million in year-over-year sales and amassing just 12.7 million units sold on the backs of its latest iPod touch and iPod nano. While this dip in sales is far from a warning bell for Cupertino (hello! record quarterly profit), it certainly doesn't bode well for the halo its products have typically enjoyed.

Technology