Accelerating sales of the iPod, the hugely popular digital music player, have helped Apple achieved its highest ever quarterly revenue and profit.
In its first quarter ended 25 December 2004, the computer maker posted a net profit of US$295m, up from US$63m in Q1 2004. Revenue for the quarter was US$3.49bn, up 74pc year on year.
While sales of Macs rose 26pc to crash through the one million unit barrier, sales of the iPod jumped a phenomenal 525pc to 4.58 million units. Gross margins increased to 28.5pc, up from 26.7pc in the equivalent quarter in 2003. International sales accounted for 41pc of the quarter’s revenue.
“We are thrilled to report the highest quarterly revenue and net income in Apple’s history,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve sold more than 10 million iPods to date and are kicking off the New Year with a slate of innovative new products including iPod Shuffle, Mac mini and iLife ’05.”
The company said it expected second quarter revenue of about US$2.9bn, reflecting the usual dip after the frenetic Christmas sales period.
By Brian Skelly
