CONSUMER technology giant Apple has smashed Wall Street expectations after profits surged on strong demand for new products including the iPad.
The company, which sold almost as many of its new iPad tablets as Mac computers, said revenues jumped 61% to 15.7 billion US dollars (£10.3 billion) in the second quarter. Profits rose 78% to 3.25 billion dollars (£2.1 billion).
With the company lifting its revenues guidance for the current quarter, Apple shares rose more than 3% in after-hours trading in New York.
Apple said it sold 8.4 million iPhones, an increase of 61% from last year, even though the company stopped shipping more of the previous-generation iPhones after the updated model, the iPhone4, was announced in June. It sold 1.7 million units of the iPhone4 during the last three days of the quarter.
It also sold about 3.3 million iPads during its first three months on the market. This compared with 3.5 million Macs after sales of the computers rose 33% due to record levels of business with schools and colleges.
Apple’s strong performance contrasted with fellow technology firm Yahoo, which disappointed Wall Street with sluggish revenues growth.
Cost cuts meant second quarter earnings increased 51% to 213 million dollars (£139.6 million), but analysts said revenues growth of 2% was disappointing given Google last week announced a 24% improvement over the same period.
Both Yahoo and Google make virtually all of their money from online advertising, a sector that has been recovering faster than other forms of marketing.
Around 29% of Yahoo’s revenue comes from outside the United States, with Europe accounting for less than 9% of the total.
