Apple ships 8.5 million iPods in second quarter


20 Apr 2006

Computer player Apple last night posted revenues of US$4.36bn, compared with US$3.2bn last year. The company reported a net profit of US$410m for the second quarter, up from US$290m last year. Founder and CEO Steve Jobs said the company’s transition to Intel processors is proceeding well.

The company said that it shipped some 1.1 million Macintosh computers and some 8.5 million iPods during the quarter, representing a 4pc growth in Macs and a 61pc growth in iPods over the same period last year.

“We’ve generated over $10bn in revenue and almost $1bn in earnings in the first half of fiscal 2006,” said an ebullient Jobs.

“Our transition to Intel processors is going very well, and our music business just experienced another quarter of outstanding growth.”

“We’re very pleased to report the second highest quarterly sales in Apple’s history, resulting in year-over-year revenue growth of 34pc and earnings growth of 41pc,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s chief financial officer.

“Looking ahead to the third quarter of fiscal 2006, we expect revenue of about US$4.2bn to US$4.4bn. We expect GAAP earnings per diluted share of about US$0.39 to US$0.43, including an estimated US$0.04 per share expense impact from non-cash stock-based compensation, translating to non-GAAP earnings per share of about US$0.43 to US$0.47,” Oppenheimer concluded.

By John Kennedy