Apple reported a 57 per cent jump in first-quarter profit and gave a forecast that missed analysts' estimates, sending the shares down 8.8 per cent.
Net income rose to $1.58 billion (€1.07 billion), or $1.76 a share, from $1 billion, or $1.14, a year earlier, Apple said today in a statement. Sales gained 35 per cent to $9.61 billion. Analysts anticipated $1.60 a share in profit on revenue of $9.43 billion in the quarter ended December 29th.
Apple's sales and profit forecasts for this quarter heightened concern that a slowdown in the US economy may curb spending on computers and consumer electronics such as the iPod and iPhone. At the company's Macworld event in San Francisco last week Apple chief executive Steve Jobs revealed it had sold four million iPhones, its combination phone, music player and internet access device.
Intense speculation by both bloggers and mainstream media in advance of last week's Macworld keynote speech meant that Mr Jobs wasn't able to pull any surprises out of the bag. Not just the Apple faithful, but also investors, seemed underwhelmed by the world's thinnest notebook the MacBook Air, an updated Apple TV set top box, enhancements to the iPhone and the facility to rent movies through iTunes.
The faithful had been expecting something that hadn't been leaked in advance, while investors sent the stock down 5.5 per cent on the day of Mr Jobs' speech. The year to date has been a torrid one for the group's share price as investors speculated in advance of Macworld and the first-quarter results.
Sales of the Mac, which accounts for half of Apple's revenue, hit record levels last year after the company switched to chips from Intel and software became available to let users run programs on Microsoft Windows. Sales of the iPod have been reinvigorated by new models Jobs introduced in September. - ( Additional reporting Reuters)
