Record iPhone, Mac sales boost Apple's profit

Apple managed to sell more Mac computers and iPhones than ever, boosting its revenue by 25 per cent to $9.87 billion and giving it record profit.

Apple sold 17 per cent more Macs than the same quarter last year, with 3.05 million leaving shelves when the PC sales market is mostly flat. The number of iPhones sold jumped seven per cent to 7.4 million, while iPods fell off eight per cent to 10.2 million.

"We are thrilled to have sold more Macs and iPhones than in any previous quarter," said Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive, in a statement. "We've got a very strong lineup for the holiday season and some really great new products in the pipeline for 2010."

Net quarterly profit rose to a record $1.67 billion from $1.14 billion, while quarterly gross margins rose to 36.6 per cent from 34.7 per cent.

Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's chief financial officer, said in a statement: "For the full year, we grew revenue by 12 per cent and net income by 18 per cent in extraordinarily challenging times."

For the next quarter, the first of 2010, he predicted revenue would increase to between $11.3 billion and $11.6 billion.

Analysts agree

Oppenheimer wasn't the only one being optimistic.

Jane Snorek, analyst at First American Funds, told Reuters: "These are huge numbers tonight. Apple is probably the best growth story in tech, maybe one of the best growth stocks in the market. I bet this stock can go to $250 in six to nine months."

"This makes me think Apple will have a great Christmas," she added.

Others said this showed that the looming arrival of Microsoft's next OS Windows 7 wasn't putting Apple off. "The number of Macs sold shows that Windows 7 has not been a threat to the Apple franchise," Shannon Cross of Cross Research told Reuters. "These are phenomenal results."