Apple's second-quarter results beat expectations

Continuing trend that has run for several quarters, Apple Computer on Wednesday reported a profit for the second quarter that beat even its expectations based on continued brisk sales of its iPod portable music player, as well as improving sales of Macintosh computers.

The company, based in Cupertino, California, saw revenue grow 70 percent in the second quarter, from US$1.91 billion to US$3.24 billion. Profit in the quarter was US$290 million, or US$0.34 a share, compared with US$46 million, or US$0.06 in the period a year ago.

The chief executive, Steve Jobs, called the quarter fantastic, and said that Apple was clearly picking up market share from Windows-based computers.

"IPods did very well but so did Macs," Jobs said in an interview, in which he tried to move the focus from Apple's success in the music business to its increasing success in selling Macs. "We had a fantastic Mac quarter."

Jobs Apple saw a 43 percent increase in sales of Macs during the quarter, including strong demand for the new low-priced Mac mini. Today, Apple's share of the PC market is around 2 percent, but its sales are growing at a faster rate than the overall PC market. Macintosh business accounted for 52 percent of the company's total revenue.

Looking to the third quarter, executives said they expected revenue of about US$3.25 billion and earnings of US$0.28 a share.

In the call with analysts, executives tried to temper investors' expectations going forward and warned that they did not expect Apple to sustain its record-high growth rates indefinitely.

The chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, said that he expected revenue growth to eventually start to hover at a more reasonable 15 percent level, still higher than the industry average.