Apple last night said that its third-quarter profits topped $1 billion on strong sales of its Macintosh computers, iPods, and iPhones.
Apple said revenues for the fiscal quarter ending June 28, 2008 were $7.46 billion and profits came to $1.19 per share.
'We're proud to report the best June quarter for both revenue and earnings in Apple's history,' said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. 'We set a new record for Mac sales, we think we have a real winner with our new iPhone 3G, and we're busy finishing several more wonderful new products to launch in the coming months,' he said.
Apple shipped 2.49 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, representing a 41% jump from the same time in 2007. Sales of iPod MP3 players rose 12% from the year-ago quarter. Apple reported selling 717,000 iPhones in the recent quarter as opposed to 270,000 in the same three months last year.
However, Apple shares dropped nearly 10% in after hours trading as investors focused on the California company's less optimistic outlook for the fourth quarter.
Apple forecast fourth-quarter revenues of $7.8 billion and per-share earnings of about $1. Analysts expected Apple to rake in more than $8.3 billion in revenues and post profits of $1.23 a share in the coming quarter, which is typically strong due to buying for students about to start a new school year.
Analysts speculate that Apple may be planning to further shuffle off its reputation for premium-priced elite hardware in favour of trimming prices to boost sales volume. Sales of iPod Shuffles jumped after the price was cut to early this year.
It took just three days from launch to sell a million iPhone 3G models. Demand for iPhone 3G models has outstripped supply since sales began in 22 countries on July 11 and Apple is ramping up production. IPhones sales will begin in 20 more countries next month.
