FASB approves accounting changes that will allow Apple to realize revenue sooner

Call your broker!  The FASB has changed its accounting rules this morning, allowing Apple to realize the revenue from its iPhones and AppleTV devices at purchase rather than slowly over two years.  It also allows Apple to stop charging nominal fees for iPod Touch software updates – when it doesn’t necessarily want to.  AAPL is up almost 4 points on the day.

Apple Inc. is expected to be one of the major beneficiaries of the change, since it would dramatically change how the company reports revenues from its iPhone [and AppleTV]. Currently, Apple recognizes iPhone revenue over a two-year period, and said recently that overall revenues and earnings in its latest quarter would have been much higher if it didn’t have to defer revenues for the iPhone and its Apple TV product. An Apple spokesman couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.