Apple on Monday said record Mac and iPhone shipments led the company to strong revenue and profit growth and to its most profitable quarter ever.
Apple said revenue for its fourth fiscal 2009 quarter, which ended September 26, reached $9.8 billion, up 24 percent from the $7.9 billion it reported for the fourth quarter of 2008.
The company also reported fourth quarter profit of $1.7 billion, or $1.82 per share, up around 50 percent from the $1.1 billion, or $1.26 per share, it reported last year.
Apple sold about 3.1 million Macintosh computers in the fourth quarter, up about 17 percent over the same period last year. During that time, Apple also sold 7.4 million iPhones, up 7 percent, and 10.2 million iPods, down 8 percent.
For all of fiscal year 2009, Apple reported revenue of $36.5 billion, up 12 percent from the $32.5 billion it reported for 2009. The company also reported income for the entire year of $5.7 billion, or $6.29 per share, up 19 percent from the $4.8 billion, or $5.48 per share, it reported for 2008.
Apple's iPhone held a 12.1 percent share of global smart phone shipments in the second calendar quarter of 2009, up from 10.1 percent in the first quarter, and probably increased its market share in the third calendar quarter as well, said iSuppli, an El Segundo, Calif.-based analyst firm.
iSuppli also expects Apple's iPhone shipments to soar 37 percent for all of calendar 2009 over 2008, compared to a rise in shipments of all smart phones by 11.6 percent during that period.
Apple has also been gaining share in the worldwide PC market in calendar year 2009, with global shipments of Apple's Macintosh computers accounting for 3.7 percent of the market in the second quarter, up from 3.2 percent in the first quarter, iSuppli said.
Looking forward, Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO, said Apple expects revenue of between $11.3 billion and $11.6 billion and earnings per share of between $1.70 to $1.78 for the first fiscal quarter of 2010.
