APPLE INC. hit a rare bump in the road, just as it began to transition to life without Steve Jobs.

The company did not sell as many iPhones as Wall Street was hoping for in the recent quarter, a period during which co-founder Jobs handed the reins to new chief executive Tim Cook. Jobs died after a long battle with pancreatic cancer earlier this month.

Apple said Tuesday it sold more than 17 million iPhones in its fiscal fourth quarter ended Sept. 24, up from more than 14 million a year ago but lower than the 20 million or more that analysts had been expecting.

Apple’s shares, which had been climbing to record highs recently, dropped 6.5 percent, or US$27.43, to US$394.81 in after-hours trading Tuesday following the results.

Cook said iPhone sales slowed toward the end of the quarter amid speculation over the debut of a new model. He was optimistic about the new iPhone 4S, which Apple began selling on Friday after the quarter closed.

“We are very confident that we will set an all-time record in the December quarter for iPhone sales,” he said.

In recent quarters, the iPhone has contributed more than a third to nearly half of Apple’s revenue, according to analysts, and its business depends on consumers continuing to buy or upgrade to new versions of the more than four-year-old device.

Some analysts said the results should not be seen as too negative. “We don’t think this is a slowdown in [market] share gains, it’s a pause,” said Brian Marshall, an analyst with the New York-based International Strategy & Investment Group.

Overall, Apple posted fiscal-fourth quarter revenue of US$28.27 billion, a 39-percent jump from the year-earlier quarter, but a slowdown from 82 percent year-over-year revenue growth in the fiscal third quarter.

Profit rose 54 percent to US$6.6 billion, missing analysts’ expectations, a rarity for a company that has been experiencing gangbuster growth. The company said it sold 11.1 million iPads, compared with 4.19 million a year ago.

Apple’s results add to a mixed picture of how the technology industry is weathering the economic slowdown. International Business Machines Corp. this week reported weaker-than-expected results, fueling concerns among investors that technology spending is softening. Internet advertising giant Google Inc.’s growth remained brisk, with advertisement sales accelerating during the quarter ending in September.

(SD-Agencies)