Sales of iPods topped the most optimistic expectations, though shipments of Macintosh desktop and notebooks computers were somewhat less than analysts expected. Ahead of the holiday season, Apple introduced iPod models that were less expensive, held more songs and were smaller than previous ones.
"The good news is even if Macs were a little light, iPods more than made up for it, which shows the strength and diversity of Apple's product line-up right now," said Shannon Cross, an analyst at Cross Research.
As Apple has captured some 70 percent of the portable digital-music market, analysts have wondered whether it can sustain iPod growth or find other growth areas, whether it be increased Mac sales or new products like the iPhone -- introduced with great fanfare at Macworld last week.
The annual conference generated more buzz than usual this year when Jobs unveiled the much-anticipated multimedia device, which goes on sale for $500 to $600 in June. It marks Apple's broadest attack yet on the cutthroat $145 billion consumer-electronics industry.
