No Shine on Apple

Updated from 5:09 p.m. EST

It turns out Apple Computer (AAPL Quote) was saving the bad news for later.

A week after announcing that it had posted better-than-expected sales in its holiday period, the company forecast results for its current quarter that were much lower than analysts' forecasts.

A number of factors contributed to that near-term outlook, CFO Peter Oppenheimer explained during Wednesday's conference call, including: an expected seasonal decline in sales of the company's iPod digital music players, the fact that the company's new Intel (INTC Quote)-based notebook computer won't ship until next month, and the fact that the current second quarter will have one less week in it than did the holiday period. ...