Apple's First-Quarter Profit Rises 78% on Record IPod Sales
By Connie Guglielmo
Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. said first-quarter profit jumped 78 percent after holiday shoppers snapped up iPod music players in record numbers and Macintosh computers.
Net income rose to $1 billion, or $1.14 a share, from $565 million, or 65 cents, a year earlier, Cupertino, California- based Apple said today in a statement. Sales rose 24 percent to $7.12 billion. Analysts anticipated profit of 78 cents, according to the average of 14 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Apple sold 21.1 million iPods, up from 14 million a year earlier, after Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs stoked holiday demand by releasing smaller, less-expensive and higher-capacity models. Updated Macs with faster chips from Intel Corp. helped drive shipments to 1.61 million machines in the quarter ended Dec. 30.
``People are buying Macs and iPod because it's cool to be associated with Apple,'' said Chuck Jones, who helps manage $17 billion including Apple shares at Atlantic Trust Stein Roe in San Francisco. ``The halo effect from the iPod does help sell Macs.''
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