Apple posts record revenues, profit

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple posted record revenue and profits Tuesday, a day after the company announced that its iconic founder and chief executive Steve Jobs was taking a medical leave of absence for unspecified health problems.

The health of the company however has never seemed brighter. Apple said it had record revenue of $26.74 billion in the fourth quarter, which encompasses the crucial holiday season, compared to $15.68 billion in revenue a year earlier. Profits jumped from $3.38 billion to $6 billion, Apple said.

The company sold 16.24 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 86 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 19.45 million iPods during the quarter, representing a seven percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

It also sold 7.33 million iPads during the quarter. Apple sold 4.13 million Macs during the quarter, a 23 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter.

“We had a phenomenal holiday quarter with record Mac, iPhone and iPad sales,” said Jobsin a statement. “We are firing on all cylinders and we’ve got some exciting things in the pipeline for this year including iPhone 4 on Verizon which customers can’t wait to get their hands on.”

“We couldn’t be happier with the performance of our business, generating $9.8 billion in cash flow from operations during the December quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s chief financial officer. “Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $22 billion.”