Apple has bucked the downward trend shown by many tech firms by
reporting a 9% increase in revenues in first three months of
2009.
The company posted revenue of $8.16bn and a net profit of
$1.21bn, compared with revenue of $7.51bn and net profit of $1.05bn
for the same period a year ago.
"We are extremely pleased to report the best non-holiday quarter
revenue and earnings in our history," said Peter Oppenheimer,
Apple's CFO.
Although the company has not released any new products, strong
sales of the iPhone and iPod Touch were enough to give Apple a
better than expected start to the year.
The iPod Touch, a version of the iPod music player that can
access the internet over Wi-Fi networks, has proved popular with
users,
including the US military.
Revenues were also supported by strong sales of applications
from Apple's online store. Translation applications are the most
popular with US military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Demand for the iPod and iPod touch contrasted with
falling demand for Mac computers, which has been ascribed to
cuts in spending by business and education.
Mac sales fell 3% in sharp contrast to 2008 when sales jumped
53% after the launch of the Macbook Air.
Despite the better than expected results for the past quarter,
Apple issued a revenue forecast of only $7.7bn to $7.9bn for the
current quarter.