A surge in sales of iPod music players propelled Apple Computer to record revenues and earnings as the net quarterly profit increased fourfold to $430m, the company said last night.
Apple, in its fiscal fourth-quarter report, said it shipped some 1.2 million Macintosh computers and 6.45 million iPods during the quarter, representing 48% growth in Macs and 220% growth in iPods year-over-year.
'We're thrilled to have concluded the best year in Apple's history, with 68% year-over-year revenue growth and 384% net profit growth,' said Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive. 'This is the direct result of our focus on innovation and the immense talent and creativity at Apple. We could not be more excited about the new products we're working on for 2006.'
Revenues hit $3.68 billion for the quarter ended September 24, up 56% from a year ago and bringing the full-year revenue figure to over $13.9 billion. The net profit for the fiscal year jumped to $1.33 billion, a fivefold increase from the prior year.
In other news today Apple is unveiling a new product this evening- top of the list of rumours is that this could be a new iPod that plays video, a higher capacity iPod; bigger ,better Power Books and Power Macs or tiered pricing on iTunes.
The earnings for the quarter amounted to 38 cents a share, better than the average analyst forecast of 37 cents per share.
