Apple net profit up sharply on strong iPhone sales
AP News ( 2010-01-25 21:44:13 )
Strong iPhone sales helped Apple post a 50-percent increase in quarterly net profit on Monday of 3.38 billion dollars.
Apple said revenue in the first quarter rose to 15.68 billion dollars from 11.88 billion dollars in the corresponding quarter a year ago.
"If you annualize our quarterly revenue, it's surprising that Apple is now a 50-billion-dollar-plus company," said the iconic California firm's chief executive Steve Jobs.
"The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we're really excited about."
Apple has maintained trademark secrecy regarding a Wednesday event at which it is expected to unveil a tablet computer along the lines of a "iPhone on steroids," according to analysts.
The firm's quarterly profit amounted to 3.67 dollars per share in a leap from the 2.50 dollars per share, or 2.26 billion dollars in net profit, in the final three months of 2008.
Apple said it sold 3.36 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, 33 percent more than a year ago, and 8.7 million iPhones, up 100 percent from a year ago.
However, sales of iPods slid eight percent to 21 million units in a year-over-year comparison of quarters.
"We are very pleased to have generated 5.8 billion dollars in cash during the quarter," said Apple chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer.
Oppenheimer said Apple expects revenue in the current fiscal quarter to range from 11.0 billion to 11.4 billion dollars and for diluted earnings per share to wind up between 2.06 to 2.18 dollars.
Copyright 2010  AFP Global Edition
