Record Mac sales boost Apple's finances

Pre-tax profits up 67 per cent thanks also to healthy iPod and iPhone sales

Steve Jobs is looking forward to Christmas

Record sales of Macintosh computers helped Apple to increase fourth quarter revenue by 29 per cent to $6.2bn (£3bn).

The supplier sold 2,164,000 Macs during the period, 34 per cent up on the same quarter last year.

As a result, pre-tax profit was up 67 per cent to $904m (£443m).

Consumer technology sales showed similar dramatic growth, with 10.2 million iPods sold – up 17 per cent year-on-year – and 1,119,000 iPhones shipped.

“We are very pleased to have generated over $24bn (£11.8bn) in revenue and $3.5bn (£1.7bn) in net income in fiscal 2007,” said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs.

“We’re looking forward to a strong December quarter as we enter the holiday season with Apple’s best products ever.”