Apple revenue jumps by 78 per cent

Apple has released its third quarter results, reporting a revenue boost of 78 per cent thanks to strong sales performance across its product portfolio.

The 'record' revenue was reported as $15.7 billion for the period ending 26 June, compared with just $9.73 billion for the same period a year ago.

Net quarterly profit was also up, with $3.25 billion rather than the $1.83 billion generated in last year's third quarter.

The company also achieved a new quarterly record for Mac sales, shipping 3.47 million during the three-month period. Some 8.4 million iPhones were sold during the period - a 61 per cent increase compared with sales as they stood in the same quarter last year.

iPods and iPads also demonstrated strong performance, with 9.41 million and 3.27 million units sold respectively, despite the latter only being introduced during the quarter.

"It was a phenomenal quarter that exceeded our expectations all around, including the most successful product launch in Apple's history with iPhone 4," said Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive.

"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."

Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's chief financial officer (CFO), added: "We're really pleased to have generated over $4 billion of cash during the quarter. Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue of about $18 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $3.44"