Apple earnings rise 24 per cent

Oct 21, 2008, 22:08 GMT

San Francisco - Apple Inc on Tuesday reported a fiscal fourth-quarter profit of 1.14 billion dollars, or 1.26 dollars a share, up 24 per cent from a profit of 904 billion dollars in the same quarter last year.

The company is seeing a resurgence in sales of its computers at the same time sales of its iPhone and other portable devices are also rising strongly.

Apple said its revenue reached 7.9 billion dollars, up from 6.22 billion dollars in sales in the same period a year ago.

The company shipped 2,611,000 Macintosh computers during the quarter, representing 21 per cent unit growth and 17 per cent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. It sold 11,052,000 iPods during the quarter, representing 8 per cent unit growth and 3 per cent revenue growth. Quarterly iPhone units sold were 6,892,000 compared to 1,119,000 in the year-ago-quarter.

'Apple just reported one of the best quarters in its history, with a spectacular performance by the iPhone,' said chief executive Steve Jobs. 'We don't yet know how this economic downturn will affect Apple. But we're armed with the strongest product line in our history, the most talented employees and the best customers in our industry. And 25 billion dollars of cash safely in the bank with zero debt.'