Apple Saw The Highest Switchover Rate From Android Ever

Apple Inc. AAPL shares were down more than 7 percent in after-hours trading following its Q3 earnings report. The company reported earnings of $1.85 per share on revenue of $49.605 billion, above the Street's consensus of $1.80 per share and $49.211 billion.

The beat was mainly driven by stronger than expected iPhone sales, which reached $31.37 billion. Mac sales barely surpassed $6 billion, while iPad sales came in at $4.45 billion.

Revenue guidance of $49 billion - $51 billion for Q4, however, was slightly disappointing.

One of the most interesting comments was related to iPhone sales. According to Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook, Apple not only beat analyst expectations, but also its own, setting a record for the quarter. All geographic segments saw share gains, and the company witnessed the highest switchover rate from Google Inc GOOGL GOOG's Android ever. Over the quarter, iPhone unit sales surged 35 percent to 47.4 million.

Related Link: Apple Sells A Record-Breaking 47.5 Million iPhones, But Is Wall Street Underwhelmed?

Apple has been working on snatching Android users for quite some time now. Earlier this year, Apple offered a new program aimed at luring non-Apple users to purchasing an iPhone. The idea was pretty straightforward: Apple would accept non-Apple smartphones, including Android devices, in exchange for gift cards that could be used in the purchase of new iPhones.

In an article on Ubergizmo, the "majority of Android users switching to iPhone are from emerging markets... The latest data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners revealed that in the U.S. 19 percent of iPhone customers said that they had made the switch from Android during the previous quarter, the numbers overseas were much greater."