Apple Earnings Nearly Double

Apple today reported another exceptional quarter, nearly doubling its net income and far exceeding analyst estimates on the strength of the seemingly unstoppable iPhone. However, sales of Apple's big new product, the iPad tablet computer, came in below expectations. The second version of the tablet launched three weeks before the end of the quarter, and manufacturing constraints may have prevented Apple from selling more of them.

Apple said net income for its fiscal second quarter, which ended in March, was $5.99 billion, or $6.40 per share, up 95% from $3.07 billion, or $3.33 per share, a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting earnings of $5.37 per share. The results were lifted by the record sale of 18.65 million iPhones, millions more than analysts had expected. (More Apple stories.)