Despite concerns of sluggish sales due to a troubled US economy, Apple today reported a 38 percent jump in revenue and a 31 percent gain in profit in its fiscal third quarter compared to a year ago - the best June quarter for both revenue and earnings in Apple's history - thanks in no small part to the strength in sales of its Macintosh line of computers.
The company said revenue rose to $7.46 billion in the quarter ended June 28, and profits reached $1.07 billion, or $1.19 a share. Apple said it shipped 2.5 million Macintosh computers, up a whopping 41 percent from a year earlier. While iPod sales have been expected to begin flattening out, the company managed to move 11 million units during the quarter, for a rather unexpected year-over-year growth of 12 percent. Apple also said it sold 717,000 iPhones, compared with 270,000 a year ago. Interestingly, the iPhone does not appear to have cannibalized iPod sales, though the lower-priced iPhone 3G may change that beginning in the coming quarter.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs also took the occasion to tease fans about several unnamed new products that will supposedly launch "in the coming months." The company's shares nevertheless fell 9 percent in after-hours trading after revealing one of its typically conservative fourth-quarter earnings forecasts, where it said revenue would reach $7.8 billion and earnings would be about $1 a share.