Apple Earnings Rise On iPod And Laptop SalesApple Earnings Rise On iPod And Laptop Sales

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Strong holiday sales of portable notebook computers and the iPod music player helped Apple Computer Inc.'s first-quarter results easily beat Wall Street expectations Wednesday.

For the three months ended Dec. 27, Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple said it earned $63 million, or 17 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $8 million, or 2 cents per share, in the same period last year.

Revenue for the quarter reached a four-year high of $2 billion, up 36 percent from the year-ago quarter.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had projected earnings of 15 cents a share on revenue of $1.9 billion.

"It was an outstanding quarter for Apple," said chief executive Steve Jobs.

During the quarter, Apple said it shipped 829,000 Macintosh computers, up 12 percent from a year ago. Sales of iPod players leaped 235 percent to 733,000.

Before it released earnings, Apple shares rose 8 cents to close at $24.20 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. In the extended session, shares were down $1.31, or 5.4 percent, to $22.89.

Apple introduced the iPod in October 2001, igniting a category of portable music players with hard drives. Though it was bulkier than flash-based players, the pocket-sized iPod could hold hundreds more songs--about 1,000 songs--with its 5-gigabyte drive. The latest models are sleeker and have as much as 40 gigabytes of storage.

Sales of iPods gained momentum after Apple introduced its pay-per-download iTunes online music store last year, first for Mac computers then for Windows-based PCs starting in the fall. Songs purchased from the online store can be burned onto CDs, played on up to three computers, but are transferable only to the iPod.

Apple's music success has drawn dozens of rivals into the digital music arena, and some companies are partnering with Apple to take advantage of its market-leading position.

Hewlett-Packard Co. and Apple last week announced a surprising alliance in which HP will sell iPod players, rebranded under the HP name and signature blue hue. Under the deal, HP will also pre-install Apple's jukebox software with every HP computer beginning in the summer.