Apple Computer last night reported a six-fold rise in its second quarter profits, with sales of the iPod digital music player pushing total revenues up 70%.
Apple earned $290m, or 34 cents a share, on revenue of $3.24 billion for the three months to March 26, compared with $46m, or six cents a share, on $1.9 billion in revenue a year earlier. The results far outstripped the expectations of analysts, who had forecast a profit of 24 cents a share.
Apple said it sold 5.3 million iPods worldwide during its second quarter, up a whopping 558% from a year
ago. The iPod accounted for $1 billion, or 31%, of Apple's total revenue for the three months.
The company said it shipped 1.1 million Macintosh computers in the quarter, including its new Mac Mini. That was up 43% on a year earlier.
'Apple is firing on all cylinders and we have some incredible new products in the pipeline for the coming year, starting with X Tiger later this month,' said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs.
Apple is touting X Tiger as the world's most advanced operating system as it seeks to take another bite out of the global dominance of the rival Windows system owned by Microsoft, which powers 90% of personal computers.
In its outlook, Apple said it expected to post a third-quarter profit of 28 cents a share on revenue of $3.25 billion.
