SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Inc. announced on Wednesday that its profits for the third fiscal quarter rose by 73 percent, way above expectations given the lukewarm response to its newest product, the iPhone. The Cupertino-California based Apple revealed that its profits were driven to a large extent by robust sales of its Mac computers as well as its digital media player, the iPod.
The net profit during the period was $818 million or 92 cents a share as compared to $472 million, or 54 cents a share at the same time last year. Apple also said that revenues rose to $5.41 billion in the quarter, a gain of nearly 25 percent when compared to $4.37 billion recorded in the same quarter last year.
Steve Jobs, chief executive of Apple was delighted to reveal that Mac sales had hit a record high during the quarter.
"We're thrilled to report the highest June quarter revenue and profit in Apple's history, along with the highest quarterly Mac sales ever," he said in a statement. "iPhone is off to a great start -- we hope to sell our one-millionth iPhone by the end of its first full quarter of sales -- and our new product pipeline is very strong."
Apple reported sales of 270,000 iPhones in the run up to June 30. The iPhone was launched on June 29. Apple's report comes a day after AT&T revealed less than expected subscribers for the iPhone. The company, which has an exclusive two-year contract for the iPhone said it had activated 146,000 subscriptions thus far.
Apple also reported a 21 percent rise in iPod shipments to 9.32 million during the quarter. Additionally it shipped 1.76 million Macs. This number is almost 33 percent more than the sales figures reported at the same time last year.
Apple shares rose 9.6 percent to $150.70 following this positive report.
