Third-quarter results from Apple show that the company is now selling more than five times as many iPod music players as the Mac computers by which the company made its name. The company saw its profits rise by 425pc compared to the same quarter last year.
Announcing the financial results for the three-month fiscal period ended June 25, Apple said it had its best quarter ever with the highest revenue and earnings in its history. The company revealed a net quarterly profit of US$320m on revenues of US$3.52bn.
Apple grew its profits by 425pc and its revenues by 75pc compared to the same quarter a year ago. Sales outside the US accounted for 39pc of the companyÅfs revenue.
Apple shipped 6,155,000 iPod music players during the quarter and 1,182,000 Macintosh computers. Mac shipments grew by 35pc and iPods increased by 616pc over same period in 2004. Apple is believed to have sold more than 20 million iPods to date and the company is the market leader for portable digital music players.
ÅgWe are delighted to report AppleÅfs best quarter ever in both revenue and earnings,Åh Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement. ÅgThe launch of Mac OS X Tiger has been a tremendous success and we have more amazing new products in the pipeline.Åh
Peter Oppenheimer, AppleÅfs chief financial officer, said the company was anticipating revenue of around US$3.5bn for the fourth quarter of the year.
Earlier this summer Apple announced it plans to port all of its Mac computers from IBM to Intel processors by 2007, but it appears this change in its product roadmap has yet to translate to reduced sales where potential customers might opt to wait before buying new Apple machines.
By Gordon Smith
