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Apple results take the spotlight

Shanghai Daily, January 20, 2011

That's about a million more than analysts were expecting for the quarter. Wu said Apple was able to ramp up iPad production to meet widespread demand, and executives sounded confident that would continue even as Apple expands iPad sales to 15 more countries in the current quarter.

PC industry analysts said the iPad and the promise of competing tablets that run Microsoft Corp's Windows or Google Inc's Android software are prompting people to hold off buying new laptops. Intel Corp, the largest maker of PC processors, said last week that competition from the iPad was part of what held revenue in each of its major divisions, except for server chips, flat from the third quarter.

Apple ended the quarter with almost no iPhones left in stores, having sold 16.2 million, or 86 percent more of the smartphones than a year ago.

Net income for Apple's fiscal first quarter rose to US$6 billion, or US$6.43 per share, up from US$3.4 billion, or US$3.67 per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast US$5.41 per share for the quarter.

Revenue climbed 71 percent to US$26.7 billion, more than the US$24.3 billion analysts expected. It was US$15.7 billion in the same quarter a year earlier.

For the current quarter that ends in March, Apple said it expects net income of US$4.90 per share on revenue of US$22 billion. According to FactSet data, analysts were currently expecting net income of US$4.48 per share on US$20.9 billion in revenue.