It may not be the $37.4 billion windfall analysts were expecting, but Apple surpassed its own $34 billion estimates for its fiscal third quarter, with international sales making up 62 percent of the company's fortunes.

Apple has announced its fiscal third quarter results for 2012, and while it may not be as stupendous and super-amazing as analysts might have hoped, there's very little for Cupertino fans to be unhappy about here.

While analysts were bullishly hoping for $37.4 billion in revenue, the number was a bit closer to Apple's own modest expectations with $35 billion -- a big jump over last year during the same quarter with $28.6 billion, and a pretty good effort at matching last quarter's $39.2 billion.

The company pulled in $8.8 billion in profit for the fiscal third quarter, which was still all about the iPhone with 26 million handsets sold for a 28 percent year-over-year growth spurt.

iPads also continue to dominate the tablet market with 17 million sold in Q3 2012, a whopping 84 percent year-over-year increase from this time last year. While the iPod market declined 10 percent from fiscal Q3 2011, the product line still sold an impressive 6.8 million units.

And yes, the company's 2012 MacBooks also contributed to Apple's bottom line, which saw 4.0 million Macs sold, a more modest two percent gain over last year.

“We’re thrilled with record sales of 17 million iPads in the June quarter,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve also just updated the entire MacBook line, will release Mountain Lion tomorrow and will be launching iOS 6 this Fall. We are also really looking forward to the amazing new products we’ve got in the pipeline.”

“We’re continuing to invest in the growth of our business and are pleased to be declaring a dividend of $2.65 per share today,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter, we expect revenue of about $34 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $7.65.”

Cook and Oppenheimer were both present and accounted for during the fiscal Q3 2012 conference call that historically follows the press release.

The CFO recapped the all-time quarterly record for iPad sales, while also noting that both iPhone and Mac sales were also a record for the June quarter. Despite missing analyst expectations, the June quarter was also Apple's highest to date for the period.

While the global PC market contracted by a single percent, Oppenheimer notes that the four million Macs sold during Q3 marks a two percent year-over-year growth for the company.

The U.S. education market was also noteworthy in fiscal Q3, with three-quarters of Apple's Mac sales to institutions comprised of notebook computers. Rutherford County, North Carolina was noteworthy for buying 6,000 MacBook Air models, and Pueblo, Colorado District 70 is also planning a shift exclusively to the Air.

While Apple sold 7.5 million iPods in the June quarter last year, that number slipped 10 percent to 6.8 million for fiscal Q3, with the iPod touch model accounting for 50 percent of total sales in that category. But don't fear for Apple's market share: The company still holds more than 70 percent of the MP3 market in most countries.

The iTunes Store helped rake in $1.8 billion for the quarter, which was helped by launches in Hong Kong, Singapore and 10 other countries in June.

Moving on to the iPhone, Apple's iconic handset is now on more than 250 carriers worldwide. While some may worry that the 26 million handsets sold in fiscal Q3 shows some slowdown, Apple executives certainly seem pleased with the sales.

The big story for the quarter was the iPad, which saw an 84 percent increase over the 9.2 million units sold in fiscal Q3 2011 to rack up more than 17 million tablets. The device is now available in 97 countries and makes up $9.2 billion of Apple's overall revenue, a 52 percent increase over the same period last year.

Combined, Apple's iOS devices now number more than 410 million worldwide, and the App Store is serving up 650,000 apps, with 255,000 of those specific to the iPad. Developers have now been paid $5.5 billion, and more than 150 million of those are now using iCloud services.

For investors, the big news from CFO Oppenheimer comes with today's announcement that the board of directors has approved a dividend of $2.65 per share of common stock. Apple will also initiate its stock buyback plan in fiscal 2013, which begins on September 30, 2012.

With all of those facts and figures behind him, Oppenheimer opened the floor to phone calls from analysts and investors.

One of the key questions from Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty related to Apple's growing sales in China, which CEO Tim Cook noted now makes up two-thirds of the company's Asia-Pacific sales, which overall slowed. After the iPhone 4S launch in China which helped the company net $7.9 billion in fiscal Q2, the following quarter slid a bit to $5.7 billion -- still a 48 percent year-over-year increase.

The new iPad, which only launched last week in mainland China, won't be accounted for until fiscal Q4, which is also when Apple's new Mac notebooks will also be added.

The global economy seemed to be on the minds of analysts, although Apple executives noted that they have yet to feel any ill effects from it. Oppenheimer noted that the $399 price point on last year's iPad 2 continues to help, while noting that the U.S. dollar seems to have strengthened.

Cook did note that revenue from Europe was flat in general, particularly with France, Greece and Italy; the U.K. was one of the few bright spots with 30 percent growth. Eastern Europe remained strong, but the CEO notes that Western Europe is clearly driving Apple's growth in the region.

Oppenheimer teased a "fall transition" which Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes attempted to mine for further details about, but the CFO would hear none of it, simply noting that the mysterious transition was largely responsible for any decline in gross margin.

The Mac market was on the mind of Cross Research analyst Shannon Cross, who pondered if Apple's computers might be getting cannibalized by tablet devices. CEO Cook dismissed this notion, pointing out that the overall PC market is weak, while demand was strong for the new 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display, which the company continues struggling to get caught up with.

Cross followed up with a query about how Apple's carrier partners view their pricing models, noting that those partners pay out far less in subsidies than they take in over the course of a 24-month contract. The iPhone also has far less of a churn rate, and with the rollout of shared data plans here in the U.S., Apple's carrier partners stand to benefit even more from iPhone users, who are more likely to also own an iPad.

Sanford Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi prodded Oppenheimer on any disappointment he had with the quarter, to which the CFO replied the company was quite happy with its fiscal Q3 results "given what's going on around us." The executive also noted that persistent rumors of an iPhone 5 could be causing many customers to delay purchases of the current models.

Pacific Crest analyst Andy Hargreaves was the first to mention the "N" word -- as in, Google's Nexus 7 tablet. Cook didn't directly address the issue, but noted that the new iPad continues to be the leader, while the $399 iPad 2 helps capture customers at the lower end of the spectrum. The CEO wasn't shy about noting that "hundreds of tablets" have been released in the last year, and none of them have made a dent in iPad sales.

Cook also countered any talk of the Nexus 7 stealing market share from the iPad by noting how quickly the tablet came to dominance -- the 17 million iPads sold in fiscal Q3 helped buoy the tablet's sales to 84 million units to date, while the iPod took twice as long to reach dominance.

Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray couldn't stop himself from inquiring about the Apple TV, which Cooks notes sold 1.3 million units in fiscal Q3, bringing its 2012 tally to four million units sold. "Four million is not a small number," Cook noted. "It may be a small number relative to iPhones and iPads, but there are a lot of believers in it," referring to the media streamer's infamous "hobby" status.

JP Morgan's Mark Moskowitz attempted to get Cook and Oppenheimer to forecast where iOS 6's new Passbook app might be headed, but the CEO was quick to stick to the current game plan, which is the app being a great place to store passes or tickets into one easy-to-find place. "It's an important feature of iOS 6, but we wouldn't want to speculate about where it might take us," Cook said.

Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore wanted to know why Apple hasn't been more successful in India, to which Cook was quick to note that there are bigger opportunities in other countries "in the intermediate term." That said, Apple's business in India continues to grow, despite the company not channeling a larger amount of energy there.

And what about Apple potentially addressing lower price points by sacrificing the company's legendary focus on making the world's best products? ISI's Brian Marshall queried about this, but Cook replied that Apple's "north star is to maniacally focus on making the world's best products… that's why we breathe, that's why we live, and we're not changing that."

With that, another quarterly conference call wound to a close, and the wait for OS X Mountain Lion to hit the Mac App Store on Wednesday morning begins!

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