Apple results fail to meet forecasts

Apple shocked investors with results that missed forecasts for the first time in years, blaming disappointing sales of old iPhones while consumers were waiting for the new iPhone 4S.

Almost $27bn was wiped from the value of the company as its shares tumbled 7 per cent in trading after last night's announcement. It was Apple's first quarterly earnings under chief executive Tim Cook, and the first since the death of Steve Jobs, but the results were for the period only until near the end of September, before the iPhone 4S went on sale.

Apple said it sold 17.07 million iPhones in its fiscal fourth quarter – well short of the roughly 20 million forecast by analysts. The iPhone is Apple's flagship product, yielding some 40 percent of annual sales.