Apple Posts $6 Billion Profit For First Fiscal Quarter

With Apple's iOS App Store about to see its 10 billionth download and analysis showing that, on average, each iOS device has downloaded over 60 apps, the increasingly gaming-friendly corporation has reported that it saw record revenue and profit in the first fiscal quarter of 2011. In the quarter ended December 25, 2010, Apple posted revenue of $26.74 billion, a growth of 71 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago. Quarterly profits rose 78 percent to $6 billion. Apple said a huge rise in sales of iPhones vastly contributed to these figures, with 16.24 million iPhones sold -- up 86 percent from the same quarter last year. Mac sales saw a 23 percent increase with 4.13 million Macs sold, while 7.33 million iPads were bought during the quarter. Only the iPod saw a decline in sales, with 19.45 million units sold -- down seven percent from last year's first fiscal quarter. Apple CEO Steve Job said in a statement: "We had a phenomenal holiday quarter with record Mac, iPhone and iPad sales. 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." Earlier in the week, Jobs announced his second medical leave of absence from the company in two years, after a spat of health problems in recent years. He will still remain CEO of the company during this period.