Reporting second quarter figures that wrong-footed analysts by coming out much worse than expected, Apple Computer Inc reports that it shipped 145,000 of its new Power Macintosh computers and that it was pleased with early acceptance. Unit shipments showed gains despite a slowdown in the company’s sales during January and February as customers anticipated the introduction of the new computers, the company noted, adding that overall Macintosh unit shipments were up 9% compared with the year-ago period. International business represented 52% of the total in the quarter, up from 47% in the year ago period. Apple said the growth in international sales was driven by strong shipments in Japan, which is now the largest market for Apple Computer outside the US. Apple said it was successful in driving down costs and its operating expenses fell to $464.3m from $591.7m this time last year. The second quarter earnings per share figure came out at $0.15, compared with a consensus estimate on the Street of 0.23 per share. The turnover figure was the real worry, because analysts had been expecting better, but the company is strongly suggesting that the small increase was caused by the buyer’s strike ahead of Power Mac availability. Ken Krich, president of ComputerWare Inc, an Apple retailer, told Reuter that PowerPC sales were relatively strong but were are being held back by lack of new native applications for the PowerPC architecture. Sales are certainly respectable but not fantastic, he said. Apple reckons there are now 50 applications written specifically for the PowerPC with another 150 developers committed to delivering new programs very soon.
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