iPod propels Apple to highest revenue, earnings in company history

The iPod portable music player continues to be Apple’s growth machine. The company sold 6.12 million iPods in the third fiscal quarter of this year - an increase of 616 percent over the same quarter of last year. Combined with a 35 percent sales increase of Macintosh computers to 1.2 million units, Apple achieved sales $3.52 billion and earnings of $320 million in its most recent quarter, representing improvements of 75 percent and 425 percent over 2004, respectively.

According to the earnings release, the iPod brought $1.1 billion or about 29 percent of Apple’s total revenue, while the desktop and notebook business account for a total of about 42 percent. Other iPod-related revenues, including the iTunes music service, climbed to $852 million. (THG)