APPLE HAS warned its current-quarter earnings would be well below Wall Street targets, sending shares of the iPhone, iPod and Macintosh maker down 10 per cent yesterday.

Apple has a reputation for conservative financial forecasts, and it posted third-quarter earnings on Monday night that swept by its own target and those of Wall Street, leaving some analysts including Pacific Crest Securities' Andrew Hargreaves sure that the company was playing an old game.

"Their outlooks aren't based in reality," he said. "I think it is them doing what they do, which is guiding extremely conservatively and then beating their own numbers."

Fading consumer spending has hit profits of US companies, and reports from Google and Microsoft unnerved investors last week.

But Apple posted record Macintosh computer sales, widely seen as proof that many buyers of iPhones and iPods go on to purchase its mainstay product too.

"Given the results that we just posted, it's hard to see any obvious impact of the economy," Chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer said. "We expect to sell more Macs in the September quarter than we did in June."

But he said back-to-school promotions and investments would cut margins, and Mr Hargreaves said the Mr Oppenheimer was similarly dour last year in his outlook.

Apple forecast September-quarter earnings of $1.00 per share, below the Wall Street target range of $1.13 to $1.41 per share and badly lagging the average of $1.25. The firm's revenue target of $7.8 billion trails Wall Street's $8.3 billion view for its fiscal fourth quarter, according to Reuters Estimates.

Apple's third-quarter net income of $1.07 billion or $1.19 per share came in 11 cents per share ahead of Wall Street targets and was up from $818 million, or 92 cents per share, a year ago. Revenue rose to $7.46 billion from $5.41 billion. - (Reuters)