Apple Posts $61 million Q3 Profit, Confirms G5 iMacs

Despite problems meeting demand for its new iPod mini and being forced to delay new iMacs until September, Apple Computer announced a strong $61 million profit for its third fiscal quarter of 2004, on revenue of $2.014 billion. An after-tax restructuring charge took $6 million off the top; without it, the company’s quarterly profit would have been $67 million. Apple’s gross margin for the quarter was 27.8 percent, and international sales represented 39 percent of the quarter’s revenue. During the quarter, Apple shipped 876,000 Macs along with 860,000 iPods; the iPod’s sales growth is 183 percent higher than the same quarter of 2003, and over six percent higher than Apple’s second quarter.

Of special note to potential computer buyers in the months ahead, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer confirmed during Apple’s financial results conference call that new iMacs – now due in September – will be based around the G5 processor, and that delays were due to the limited availability of the G5 itself, manufactured by IBM in Fishkill, New York.