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Apple Revenues Surge on iPod Sales

Helped by sales of its market-leading iPod digital music players that topped 8.5 million units, Apple Computer Inc. posted a higher quarterly profit than expected. Apple says net income for its second fiscal quarter ending April 1 rose to $410 million, or 47 cents per share, from $290 million, or 34 cents per share, in the year ago period.

Revenue rose 34 percent to $4.36 billion from $3.24 billion. According to reports, analysts had expected a profit of 43 cents per share before items, on average, within a wide range of 38 cents to 49 cents, on revenue ranging between $4.27 billion and $4.88 billion, with an average of $4.50 billion.

Meanwhile, the iPod player, which Apple introduced in October 2001, has rejuvenated the Mac maker and now has more than 60 percent of the market for digital music players. Even so, there are other MP3 player manufacturers out there that wish to unseat the iPod as top dog, and time will tell if they will be able to.