Apple Computer Inc has announced that it expects surprising first-quarter net income of about $45m on revenue of $1.575bn, when it reports results on January 14. The profit figure projected amounts to about $0.35 per share, based on 128 million shares outstanding, and comes as a shock to Wall Street, which was looking for a net loss of roughly $0.06 per share. Interim chief executive Steve Jobs is proudly claiming that his plans are beginning to work, pointing to higher gross margins and continued cost cutting that led to the quarter’s success. Also contributing to the quarter were unexpectedly high sales of the company’s Power Mac G3 computers, with more than 133,000 sold – when only 80,000 units were expected to be moved. Other factors effecting the good news included the Apple Store on the web, launched in November, which the company claims has quickly become one of the top ten grossing e-commerce sites on the internet. The shift to limited build-to-order manufacturing and CompUSA Inc’s Apple store within a store were also cited as Q1 boosters. Apple shares responded well to the announcement, soaring $3.0625, or nearly 20%, to $18.9375.
