More Apple coverage  CUPERTINO -- After months of speculation
that onerous pricing and sagging demand had eroded the magic
formula that had made it the world's most valuable public
company, Apple (AAPL) on Wednesday reported record profits for
its holiday quarter, matching its earnings a year ago but
slightly missing Wall Street's estimates.  Apple said it earned
$13.81 a share on $54.5 billion in revenue for its first fiscal
quarter ending Dec. 31. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had
expected Apple to earn $13.47 a share on $54.7 billion.   A year
earlier, Apple had posted record quarterly revenue of $46.3
billion and record quarterly net profit of $13 billion, or
$13.87 per share. International sales, which accounted for 58
percent of the quarter's revenue a year ago, were up to 61
percent of the quarter's revenue.  Apple said it expects its
coming quarter revenue to be between $41 billion and $43 billion
with a gross margin at between 37.5 percent and 38.5 percent,
which is less than analysts had been e