Apple Computer announced a record quarter today in terms of both sales and profits. The company reported sales of US$3.52 billion, with profits clocking in at $320 million, or $.37 per diluted share. These results compare to a net profit of $61 million, or $.08 per diluted share, and revenue of $2.01 billion in the year-ago quarter. All told Appleis profits rose 425 percent over the year ago quarter, while sales increased 75 percent.

Mac unit sales were 1.182 million, up 35% over the year ago period, and more Macs than Apple has shipped in a quarter in the last four years.

Apple also shipped 6.155 million iPods, which represents a 616 percent jump over the year ago period. This represents another record for the company in terms of units shipped.

"We are delighted to report Appleis best quarter ever in both revenue and earnings," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs in a statement. "The launch of Mac OS X Tiger has been a tremendous success, and we have more amazing new products in the pipeline."

"Weire very pleased to report 75 percent revenue growth and a 425 percent increase in net income," said Peter Oppenheimer, Appleis CFO. "Looking ahead to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2005, we expect revenue of about $3.5 billion and earnings per diluted share of about $.32."

In the companyis conference call, Peter Oppenheimer said that Tiger represented $100 million in sales, which is the biggest quarter for OS sales in the companyis history.

Gross margin was 29.7 percent, up from 27.8 percent in the year-ago quarter. The large jump in margins came in part from the record software sales, where margins are significantly higher than with hardware sales.

The company said that international sales accounted for 39 percent of the quarteris revenue.

The Mac Observer will be following up this story with a detailed report on the companyis conference call.

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