* Apple results miss estimates, 2nd time in under a year
* iPhone sales disappoint, European malaise hurts
* Shares slide 5 percent
(Adds Asian share reaction, details on Chinese sales)
By Poornima Gupta
SAN FRANCISCO, July 24 (Reuters) - Apple Inc
results fell short of Wall Street's lofty expectations as a
sagging European economy and a pause in iPhone sales ahead of a
new version saw revenues slip from the previous quarter.
Shares fell more than 5 percent to $570.81 in late trade
after the world's most valuable technology company - which beats
expectations with near regularity - reported its second
quarterly miss in less than a year.
Apple's suppliers also felt the pain. Shares of LG Display
, Toshiba and Hon Hai sank between
5 and 7 percent.
The rare miss highlights how the Apple brand is becoming
less resistant to the economic and product cycles that have
plagued rivals.
"Clearly it was a disappointment," said Channing Smith,
Co-Manager of Capital Advisors Growth Fund. "We expected a lot
of consumers will probably delay their upgrade and their
purchases until the iPhone 5 comes out. We saw a similar trend
occur last year with the iPhone 4S."
Apple did post a 23 percent jump in revenue from the same
quarter the previous year to $35 billion, but that was about $2
billion below Wall Street's average forecast.
Net income jumped 21 percent from a year earlier to $8.8
billion, or $9.32 a share, about 10 percent below expectations.
From the previous quarter, sales fell 22 percent in
Asia-Pacific, outstripping a 3 percent to 6 percent drop in the
Americas and Europe.
Apple, which Tim Cook has led since last August, divided the
blame for the shortfall between muted consumer purchases in
Western Europe and a pullback in demand as consumers wait for a
new iPhone model that many expect will be launched in September
or October.
From April to June, Apple shipped 26 million iPhones, well
below the 28 million to 29 million that Wall Street analysts had
predicted, even taking into account a pause in buying ahead of
the iPhone 5. It was a far cry from the 35.1 million that moved
in the March quarter.
The wait for a new iPhone caused Apple to miss quarterly
expectations last fall. This year the phenomenon started early,
which could mean that Apple's iPhone sales may also stall in the
current quarter.
"Apple is in that rarest of all positions where the Street
will punish them for anything less than an excess of success,"
CCS Insight analyst John Jackson said. "If there's a positive
spin on the iPhone story, it is one of latent demand."
Apple, notorious for its conservative forecasts, estimated
earnings for the September quarter of $7.65 a share on revenue
of $34 billion, well below the average estimate of $10.23 a
share on revenue of $38.03 billion, according to Thomson Reuters
I/B/E/S.
ANTICIPATION BUILDS FOR NEW PHONE
The Silicon Valley giant has a lot riding on its next
iPhone, the product that yields more than half its revenue and
helps shore up overall margins.
Apple has seen Samsung Electronics -- now the
world's largest seller of smartphones -- and other handset
manufacturers using Google Inc's Android software chip
away at its market share.
As consumers wait for the new iPhone, Samsung's Galaxy is
expected to keep chalking up robust numbers. Analysts say profit
from Samsung's mobile division is likely to have more than
doubled from a year ago, with sales of around 50 million
smartphones in the June quarter.
Fans are expecting Apple to launch a completely redesigned
phone that has a bigger screen, rather than just add or change a
few features as it did with the current model.
Less than stellar sales of the iPhone were partly offset by
robust sales of the iPad, which accounts for well over half the
world's tablet market. Sales came in at 17 million in the fiscal
third quarter, above expectations.
"It really is the iPhone company. The iPad is not strong
enough to beat numbers," said BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis.
"The iPhone 5 is already the most hyped device and for it to
exceed expectations is going to be really hard."
MISSING TEMPERED EXPECTATIONS
Executives acknowledged buyers were refraining from
purchases because of "rumors and speculation" around the iPhone
5. They laid part of the blame on sputtering demand from
European economies like Germany and France, while dismissing the
impact of a Chinese slowdown.
China's economy grew at its slowest pace in three years in
the second quarter. But Cook blamed the revenue shortfall in the
region on changes in inventory as the company built up stocks of
the iPhone 4S in the previous quarter, adding he saw nothing in
the Chinese economy as having had an impact on sales.
iPhone sales had surged when Apple began selling its "Siri"
voice-search-equipped iPhone 4S and China Telecom
signed on as a second carrier, Cook said.
In addition, the latest iPad also hit Chinese store shelves
late -- last Friday, months after it had debuted elsewhere
around the world.
Apple sold 4 million Mac computers, which was about flat
from the previous quarter but 2 percent higher than the year-ago
period.
(Reporting By Poornima Gupta and Edwin Chan; Editing by Bernard
Orr and Michael Urquhart)