Thaindian News

New York, April 23 (IANS) The economic slump seems to have no impact on Apple Inc. as Cupertino-based electronic and software giant posted a quarterly profit of $1.21 billion on revenue of $8.16 billion Wednesday.
Driven by higher sales of iPhones and iPods, Apple’s quarterly profit is 15.2 percent up from $1.05 billion during the same period a year ago. About 46 percent of the company’s revenue came from international sales. During this (second) quarter, Apple sold 3.79 million iPhones, up a huge 123 percent from the same period last year.

At 11.01 million units, the quarterly sales of iPods also jumped about three percent from the same period a year ago. In total, Apple has sold more than 37 million iPhones and iPods worldwide so far.

However, the sales of Macintosh computers declined by three percent to 2.22 million during the quarter, compared to the same period a year ago. However, the dip in Macintosh sales is much less compared to the seven percent decline in the personal computer market, Apple chief financial officer (CFO) Peter Oppenheimer said in a statement.

“We are extremely pleased to report the best non-holiday quarter revenue and earnings in our history,” he said.

The chief financial officer said, “Apple’s financial condition remains very robust, with almost $29 billion in cash and marketable securities on our balance sheet.”

Looking at the third quarter, he said, “We expect revenue in the range of about $7.7 billion to $7.9 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about $.95 to $1.00.”

Apple’s iPhone 3G, the second-generation iPhone which was unveiled in July 2008, has been a huge success in over 70 countries. In the very first quarter after its launch, iPhone 3G sold more than 6.9 million units, beating the total 6.1 million sales of the first-generation iPhone over five quarters.