Apple sees profits soar

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All those iPods, MacBooks and downloaded tracks on iTunes certainly add up for Apple, which has seen its profits jump by 41% at Apple Computer. It reported earnings of $410m (£229m) during the first three months of 2006, up from $290m at the same time last year.

Apple shipped 1,112,000 Mac computers and 8,526,000 iPods during the quarter – that’s a growth of 4 per cent in Mac sales and 61 per cent in iPods from the same period last year.

“We’ve generated over $10 billion in revenue and almost $1 billion in earnings in the first half of fiscal 2006,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Our transition to Intel processors is going very well, and our music business just experienced another quarter of outstanding growth.”

Good news for Apple, but things are going less well for new bedfellow Intel, which has seen a slump in earnings, blaming slowing demand for PCs. Intel is also facing stiff competition from rival AMD, with the value of its shares dropping by almost a quarter in the past 12 months.

Apple website

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Dave Walker
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