Computer maker Apple last night reported first quarter sales of just under $1.4bn on earnings per share of 11 cents, in line with analysts expectations.
Apple said it shipped 746,000 Macintosh computers during the quarter. The company reported a net profit of $38m for the year's first fiscal quarter, a sharp rise from a $195m net loss in the same quarter a year ago.
'Apple delivered a solid quarter and is one of the few companies making a profit in personal computers during these challenging times,' said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, in a statement accompanying the results.
Apple's computers and operating system account for less than 5% of the world's personal computer market, struggling against other makers and Microsoft's Windows.
But the company won a victory earlier this week when a Boston judge ruled that Microsoft could not settle consumer antitrust cases by donating millions of dollars of software to US schools. That settlement, Apple had argued, would have hurt the company's education market share, which tops 40%.
