An ongoing supply shortage of the G5 microprocessor dragged down sales of the new flat-panel iMac and Power Mac desktop models, but strong sales of laptops buoyed the segment. iBook sales grew 66 percent, and PowerBooks increased 20 percent, from the year-ago period.
Sales of laptops and iPods also led to the education sector's best performance in four years, with unit sales up 19 percent and revenues up 21 percent, Oppenheimer said.
Meanwhile, retail store revenues climbed to $376 million, up 95 percent from the year-ago period. Apple had 86 stores worldwide at the end of the fourth quarter and plans to have 100 stores open by the end of 2004, including some that will be half the size of its existing stores, Oppenheimer said.
For the year, Apple reported net income of $276 million on revenue of $8.28 billion, compared to net income of $69 million on revenue of $6.21 billion in 2003.
"Apple is on track to going back to being a $10 billion-a-year company again," similar to the boom times in the late 90s following the debut of a revamped iMac and other lines of computers, said Barry Jaruzelski, management consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton.
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