Tim Cook Launches 'Surface' Attack: Apple Live Blog Recap

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Apple (AAPL) reported its fourth-quarter results after market close on Thursday, hot on the heels of its headline-grabbing iPad Mini launch earlier this week.

The tech giant's revenue came in at $36 billion, up from $28.3 billion in the prior year's quarter, and above analysts' forecast of $35.8 billion. Apple earned $8.67 a share on net income of $8.2 billion, up from earnings of $7.05 a share and net income of $6.6 billion in the same period last year. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, however, were looking for earnings of $8.75 a share.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based firm sold 26.9 million iPhones during the quarter, a 58% year-over-year hike. Apple's iPhone number also disproved rumors that the company has been struggling with supply chain issues. Wall Street had forecast between 25 million and 26 million iPhone sales.

Apple sold 14 million iPhones during the quarter, a 26% increase on the same period last year.

CEO Tim Cook also took a swipe at Microsoft's (MSFT) new Surface tablet during the company's earnings conference call, labelling the device "a fairly compromised, confusing product."

Apple's board also declared a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per common share after market close on Thursday.

Shares of Apple were off 0.17% at $608.5 in extended trading.

Check out TheStreet's live blog recap for more details of Apple's fourth-quarter earnings announcement and conference call:

--Written by James Rogers and Chris Ciaccia in New York.

Follow @jamesjrogers