Apple posts highest ever quarterly earnings

Apple have managed to beat analyst forecasts, raising their net quarterly profit by 78% to $3.25 billion (£2.1 billion) for the three months to 26 June, up from $1.83 billion compared with the same quarter last year.

This is equivalent to $3.51 a share; much higher than the $3.11 that analysts were expecting, according to reports.

Revenues also rose 88% to $15.7 billion (£10.2 billion), leading Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, to declare that Apple had enjoyed a “phenomenal quarter, that exceeded our expectations all around”.

Despite the much-publicised problems with the iPhone 4’s antenna, Jobs also described its launch as “the most successful product launch in Apple’s history”.

Apple’s highest ever quarterly earnings were helped by strong demand for the iPad, which has sold 3.27 million units, and the sale of 3.47 million Mac computers – a new quarterly record.

This follows on from Apple’s success in the first quarter of this year,  when they increased their profits by 90% to $3 billion.

Apple’s chief operating officer, Tim Cook, said that around half of the Macs sold during this quarter were to new users, and that 50% of the Fortune 100 companies in America are either testing or using the iPad.

“iPad is off to a terrific start, more people are buying Macs than ever before, and we have amazing new products still to come this year,” Jobs concluded. However, sales of the iPhone did fall slightly quarter-on-quarter, from 8.75 million to 8.4 million, and just over 9.4 million iPods were sold – the lowest figure since the summer of 2006.