Apple has reported the best quarter in its history with record revenue of US$5.75bn and a net profit of US$565m. The company shipped 207pc more iPod digital music players and 20pc more Mac computers than for the same quarter a year ago.
These first-quarter results compare to revenue of US$3.49bn and a net profit of US$295m recorded for the same three-month period last year. The growth was fuelled in no small part by sales of 14,043,000 iPods, which far outstripped sales of 1,254,000 Macs.
Interestingly the computer category grew despite Apple’s announcement of a switch to using Intel processors, a move which some analysts believed could have hurt the company’s computer shipment numbers in the short term.
“We’re very pleased to report year-over-year revenue growth of 65pc and net income that was nearly twice the year-ago level,” said Apple’s chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer in a statement. He added that the company was expecting revenue of about US$4.3bn for the upcoming second quarter of its 2006 financial year.
Gross margin for the first quarter was 27.2pc, down from 28.5pc from the same period 12months previously. International sales accounted for 40pc of the quarter’s revenue, Apple said.
By Gordon Smith
