Continuing a 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 said 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 ahead 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.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS