Apple announced its earnings for the quarter that ended in September on Tuesday afternoon and though profits rose, they were worse under analysts expectations, leading to shares falling nearly 7 percent in after-hours trading. The company posted quarterly revenues of  $28.3 billion, below the $29.41 billion figure analysts had assumed but above the company's own conservative estimates. That typical conservatism might be behind the latest over-prediction, writes TechCrunch's MG Siegler.

Well, even though Apple’s own guidance for the quarter was $25 billion in revenue, analysts seem to have wised up to Apple's always-low estimates and were projecting numbers far higher

The iPad and Mac computers continued to sell well, but reports show that iPhone sales were slower before the release of the iPhone 4S. With that in mind, CEO Tim Cook released a predictably upbeat press release. "Customer response to iPhone 4S has been fantastic, we have strong momentum going into the holiday season, and we remain really enthusiastic about our product pipeline."

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