Apple's iPhone sales help earnings beat estimates

Technology giant Apple forecast a strong holiday quarter after a better-than-expected 16 per cent jump in iPhone sales, and the strongest growth in Mac computer shipments in years helped the company surpass Wall Street's targets.

The company on Monday projected stronger-than-expected revenue of US $63.5 billion to US $66.5 billion in the December quarter, when new iPads and iPhones vie with rival devices from Microsoft and Amazon.com for consumers' holiday outlays.

However, sales of Apple's iPad, which helped launch the mainstream tablet market in 2010, slid for the third straight quarter. A gradual decline in tablet demand worldwide has worried investors already concerned with the US-based technology major's slowing growth, who are awaiting a new device that can energise its expansion.

Sales of Apple's tablet slid more than 7 per cent from the previous quarter to 12.3 million units, and were down 13 per cent from the same period a year ago.

Some investors hope that Apple's recently forged alliance with International Business Machines (IBM), intended to drive tablet and phone sales to corporate customers, may help reverse a decline in sales of the tablet device.

Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said in an interview that the pair of tech giants had already signed on 50 "foundational" or initial clients, and the two intend to introduce their first jointly designed software apps next month.

"The level of interest from the corporate world has been incredible," Maestri said.

WAX AND WANE

Apple's fortunes, however, still largely hinge on the iPhone, which accounts for half of its business, and the company's ability to again re-define markets with new technology gadgets. The Apple Watch, the company's entry in the nascent wearable tech category, will not hit stores till 2015.

Orders for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models began in September, helping Apple chalk up a 12.2 per cent jump in revenue in the previous quarter to US $42.12 billion, which beat the average expectation of US $39.9 billion of Wall Street analysts.

The latest models of the iPhone, which come in larger sizes and a heftier price tag, mark Apple's best product launch on record. The launch helped push overall smartphone sales for the company to 39.27 million in the September quarter, beating the roughly 38 million some on Wall Street had anticipated.

Maestri said in an interview that the new iPhones, which went on sale just last week in China, had already surpassed the previous-generation model in terms of volume.

The company also posted the strongest per centage growth in Mac sales, of 21 per cent to 5.5 million units, since the December quarter of 2011.

(Reuters)