Apple's share prices fall

19 January 2007 11:19 GMT / By Amber Maitland

Apple's share prices on the New York stock exchange took a tumble after it reported its last quarter financial results.

Shares closed at $5.88, or 6.19% down, at $88.83 on the Nasdaq index.

Although figures skyrocketed in the wake of the iPhone announcement, recent backlash and criticism over the device, as well as Cisco's lawsuit over Apple's use of the iPhone name, may play a part in the drop.

The period after Christmas is generally considered a difficult time as people are buying less, and Apple may have trouble selling its computers and iPods.

However, the iPhone, once it's released may reap even greater benefits for Apple than previously thought, as one analytical company predicts it'll make around 50% profit on every phone sold.

iSuppli thinks that the bill of materials and manufacturing for the 4GB model will only come to $245, but is sold for $500, yielding a 49.3% profit margin.

It's suspected that Apple is setting itself up so that it can drop the prices in the face of stiff competition.

For the last quarter ending in December, total Macs shipped were over 1.6 million, while iPods totalled a whopping 21,066,000.

It seems growth in the portable music player sector isn't slowing down, as the numbers represent a 28% growth in Macs, and a 50% growth in iPods.

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