Following strong third-quarter results this week showing a 43 per cent rise in profits, US PC maker Apple Computer also addressed industry analysts' concerns about sluggish revenue growth on slowing iMac sales, with the introduction of a number of new products.
In a series of company announcements at MacWorld Expo in New York, larger-than-life Apple chief executive officer, Mr Steve Jobs, promised big changes in the product mix and unveiled the first new Apple product releases in nine months.
These include a new optical mouse and redesigned keyboard which will be shipped as standard, five new iMac colour schemes, a lower-priced iMac Internet access appliance, and a preview of the cartoon-like user interface for the next generation Mac operating system.
The techie highlight was when Mr Jobs introduced an eight-inch cube computer, dubbed the PowerMac G4 Cube.
Meanwhile, the big draw for Mac users, particularly heavy computer graphics users, was a new dual-processor PowerMac system that will cost the same as existing single-processor systems, but offer nearly double the processing speed.
Despite the announcements and a favourable response from the analyst community, Apple's flagging share price failed to rally on the US Nasdaq and finished down 8 per cent on Wednesday. This indicates that investors want to see substantial growth at the company now that the company turnaround is complete.
Apple reported profits of $163 million (€170 million), of 45 US cents a share, up from $114 million, or 35 US cents a share a year earlier. It beat the consensus forecast of 44 US cents a share.
Revenues rose 17 per cent in a slow quarter for the PC sector, to $1.825 billion, compared with $1.558 billion last year. Apple now employs nearly 1,000 people at its Cork premises. Nearly 200 of these are temporary staff, and Apple says it is planning further temporary recruitment in Ireland to fulfil demand for the G4 product range, including the new PowerMac G4 Cube.
During a quarterly results call, Apple chief financial officer, Mr Fred Anderson, acknowledged the company had been unwise to take so long to release its next set of innovations. He said nine months between product announcements was too much, and that the coming year would see more frequent product introductions.
Already, the long awaited introductory version of the Mac operating system has been delayed from this summer to September, and the final release is due out "early next year" according to Mr Jobs.
