This week I sat down with MacNewsWorld on Apple after it missed its earnings the day before. So, here is what happened.

1. The company posted fiscal third-quarter earnings of $9.32 per share, up from $7.79 a share in the year-earlier period. Net income was $8.8 billion, or $9.32 per share. That was up 21 percent from $7.3 billion, or $7.79 per share, a year ago. Revenue rose 23 percent to $35 billion from $28.57 billion a year ago. Apple sold 26 million iPhones in the quarter, at the low end of expectations. However, it sold 17 million iPads, exceeding forecasts. The company reported that its cash pile rose to $117 billion, an increase of $7 billion during the quarter. Most CEOs would announce such results with goose bumps of excitement. But we are talking about Apple as in AAPL. Analysts had expected the company to report earnings excluding items of $10.37 a share on $37.22 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters. Apple’s fourth-quarter guidance also disappointed: It forecast $7.65 a share for earnings on revenue of $34 billion vs. analysts’ expectations of $10.22 a share earnings on revenue of $38 billion.

2. Let me state the obvious first. Apple will need to come out with the iPhone 5 rather sooner than later. People wait for it to hit the market. It will close the gashing revenue wound.

3. The bigger question for Apple is: what is the next mega gadget everybody wants next year that has not been created today? That enormous $117B stockpile of cash would allow the company to do all kinds of mergers and acquisition. Yet, given the type of company Apple is, I believe that the answer will come from Apple’s own labs.