Apple today reported a 90 per cent gain in second-quarter profit as demand increased for the iPhone and Macintosh computer.
Net income rose to $3.07 billion, or $3.33 a share, from $1.62 billion, or $1.79, a year earlier, Apple said today in a statement. Sales gained 49 per cent to $13.5 billion, topping the $12 billion average of analysts' estimates.
Results for the period ended March 27th don't include the iPad, which went on sale April 3rd. Investors and analysts anticipate the tablet computer will spur sales after Apple said last week it couldn't make enough of the gadgets to satisfy demand.
Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs has won over consumers to the iPhone while persuading more PC users to embrace the Mac. "We have several more extraordinary products in the pipeline for this year," Mr Jobs said in the statement.
"They have the most unique set of software, hardware and content in the world," said Andy Hargreaves, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Oregon.
Apple fell $2.48 to $244.59 at 4pm New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares have doubled in the past year. Buoyed by optimism for the iPad, the stock closed at a record high of $248.92 on April 15th.
Sales this quarter will be boosted by the iPad, a mobile gadget for surfing the web, playing music, watching video and reading electronics books.
Apple said it sold more than 500,000 iPads in the first week after its US debut. As demand has been "far higher" than the company predicted, Apple said it delayed the device's international release by a month to the end of May.
Bloomberg