Apple Q2 profits zoom to $1.21 bn on iPhone sales

NEW YORK: Shrugging off the economic gloom shadowing the corporates, software giant Apple has reported a 15 per cent jump in net profit at USD 1.21 billion, bolstered by strong sales of iPhones and iPods.

Apple's profit zoomed 15 per cent to USD 1.21 billion for the second quarter ended March 28, 2009. In the year-ago period, the entity had a profit of USD 1.05 billion, it said in a statement.

The robust second quarter performance was driven by a whopping 123 per cent growth in iPhone sales and a three per cent in sales of iPods. During this period, Apple sold 11.01 million iPods and 3.79 million iPhones.

However, the economic turmoil took a toll on Macintosh computer as Apple witnessed a three per cent decline in sales of that product at 2.22 million units.

Apple's net sales rose shot up to USD 8.163 billion in the latest quarter from USD 7.51 billion in the corresponding period a year ago.

According to the company, nearly 46 per cent of the total revenues came from international sales.

The company's iconic chief executive Steve Jobs is on leave since January this year on health grounds.

"We are extremely pleased to report the best non-holiday quarter revenue and earnings in our history," Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said.

Apple's financial condition remains very robust, with almost USD 29 billion in cash and marketable securities on our balance sheet," Oppenheimer added.

For the current quarter, the firm expects revenues in the range of USD 7.7 billion to USD 7.9 billion and diluted earnings per share to be about USD 0.95 to USD 1.

Meanwhile, for the six months ended March 2009, Apple recorded a profit of USD 2.81 billion as against USD 1.17 billion in the year- ago period.

The revenues for the six months stood at USD 18.33 billion as compared to USD 17.12 billion in the corresponding period a year ago.