A gay vacation season helped Apple kick off its 2011 fiscal yr with a stellar first quarter that muff away Wall Street expectations . Apple ascertain sale of $ 26.74 billion and a final lucre of $ 6 billion — both quarterly criminal record — for the three months ended December 25 , 2010 , the troupe announce Tuesday .

Sales grew nearly 71 pct from the $ 15.68 billion in revenue that Apple account for the year - agone quarter . Earnings jumped 75 percentage yr - over - twelvemonth to $ 6.43 per share , up from $ 3.67 last yr .

Those figures shoot a line away psychoanalyst estimate posted on Yahoo ’s fiscal site . analyst were wait the society to post net of remuneration of $ 5.38 a parcel on revenue of $ 24.38 billion .

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In a statement play along the earnings announcement , Apple CEO Steve Jobs say his caller is “ firing on all cylinder ” and promised “ exciting thing in the pipeline . ” job just began aleave of absencefrom his solar day - to - day chief operating officer obligation to focus on his wellness .

amazingly , none of the psychoanalyst who participated inTuesday ’s group discussion callasked about Jobs or how long his leave of absence will last . ( Unlike preceding leaves , neither the CEO nor the company have specified a replication date . ) However , master operating officer Tim Cook , who is handling Jobs ’s day - to - Clarence Shepard Day Jr. duties , was clearly allude to the spot when ask to gloss on Apple ’s long - terminal figure plan .

“ In my eyeshot , Apple is doing its best work ever , ” Cook order analysts . “ That we are all very felicitous with ware pipeline , and the squad here has an unparalleled comprehensiveness and astuteness of talent and a culture of instauration that Steve has driven in the company , and excellence has become a substance abuse . And so we feel very , very confident about the future of the caller . ”

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iPads and iPhones

The numbers reported by Apple Tuesday would justify that confidence . Much of the credit rating for Apple ’s unattackable quarter go away to its iOS equipment , with both the iPad and the iPhone torment up telling sale during the holiday season .

Apple only introduced the iPad in April 2010 , but the tab continued its blistering debut , racking up 7.33 million in unit gross revenue for the holiday period . That physique nearly matches the total figure of iPads sold by Apple during its 2010 fiscal twelvemonth ( although the iPad was only usable for the 2d half of the twelvemonth ) and tops the 4.19 million tablets sold by Apple during the late quarter .

Apple is “ thrilled with the [ iPad ’s ] impulse and customer interest , ” primary financial officer Peter Oppenheimer told analysts during Tuesday ’s briefing with analysts .

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Recognized revenue from iPad sales agreement hit $ 4.61 billion for the quarter . That gives Apple an average selling cost of $ 600 for the tablet .

iPhone sales figures were equally impressive , with Apple trade 16.24 million smartphones during the vacation season . That ’s an 86 per centum jump from the yr - agone iPhone sales , compare to 70 per centum increase for the overall smartphone marketplace , agree to Oppenheimer .

Recognized revenue from iPhone French telephone rose 84 percent to $ 10.74 billion during the fourth quarter . The iPhone enjoyed an average selling damage of $ 625 .

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By the end of the first quarter , the iPhone was now declare oneself by 185 toter in 90 country . Growth was in particular strong in the Asia Pacific and Japan market , where phone sales doubled .

Apple is looking to goose iPhone sales during the coming quarter in the U.S. , with last calendar week ’s announcement thatVerizon would begin offering a CDMA - based iPhonethat contend with AT&T ’s GSM iPhone . “ We are thrilled to extend iPhone 4 to Verizon ’s 93 million customers as well as new customers who wants iPhone 4 on Verizon , ” chief operating officer Tim Cook said . “ We ’re going to do anything possible to get iPhone into as many customers ’ hands as possible . ”

With the first quarter sales numbers now in the Christian Bible , Apple says that it ’s trade 160 million cumulative iOS devices .

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Record Mac sales

mack sales were also strong , rising 23 percent from the year - ago quarter to 4.13 million unit . That ’s a track record number for Mac sales topping the previous mark of 3.89 million Macs place during thefiscal fourth one-fourth of 2010 .

Portable computers go on to fire Apple ’s Mac sales . With 2.9 million portables sell during the fiscal first quarter , laptop now present seven of every 10 Macs that Apple sells . A year ago , portables represented 63 per centum of Apple ’s Mac gross sales .

Oppenheimer accredit Apple ’s vamp MacBook Air and continue strong sales of the MacBook Pro for the disk Mac sales . Apple unveil new MacBook Airs in October that boast a new design and introduced an 11.6 - column inch model to go with the 13.3 - in configuration .

Apple saw Mac sales outgrowth across all its geographical region , with ontogenesis particularly strong in its Japan and Asia Pacific section . macintosh building block sales rise up 54 percent and 65 percent , respectively , in those regions .

The 23 - percent emergence in Mac sale was eight times the 3 percent growth foretell by research house IDC for the entire PC grocery , Oppenheimer said . That mark the nineteenth back-to-back quarter that Apple ’s Mac business has grown faster than the PC market as a whole . And yet , Cook point out , the company still has a comparatively small parcel of the computer market . “ It would seem like there ’s still enormous opportunity there , ” Cook read .

While the Mac App Store launched after the end of the financial first quartern , Apple executives still noted that it fall the1 million download marka short time after launching . “ We ’re very proud of with the client response , ” Oppenheimer tell analyst .

iPod decline continues

iPod sales jerk the trend with a decrease from the 2010 first - quarter . Apple betray 19.45 million musical players , a 7 - percent drop from last year . This was the 7th sequent poop where iPod gross sales strike from the twelvemonth - ago period of time .

Still , Apple found encouragement in the maturation of the iPod soupcon , which now report for half of all iPods deal . Sales of the iOS - based medicine player grew 27 percent year - over - year . Tuesday ’s briefing with psychoanalyst marked one of the first clock time that Apple has broken out its iPod touch sales image from the rest of its music player section .

Apple also tout the performance of its iTunes Store , which saw its tax income top $ 1.1 billion for the quarter . iTunes users now hire and grease one’s palms more than 400,000 TV episodes and 150,000 movies each day . orchard apple tree extended lease to TV programsin September .

Retail returns

Apple visualize some of its most impressive gains in the retail segment . receipts virtually double from $ 1.97 billion last yr to $ 3.85 billion for this one-fourth . The bit of Macs sell through Apple ’s brick - and - mortar stores rise 24 percentage to 851,000 units . About one-half of those sale were to customers new to the Mac platform .

After opening six stores , Apple ended its quarter with 323 retail outlets . Eighty - seven of those stores are outside the U.S.—a pregnant degree as volume at Apple ’s overseas memory board exceeds the mass in the U.S. , fit in to Oppenheimer .

With an average of 321 stores open throughout the quarter , Apple tallied ordinary revenue per depot of $ 12 million , a 69 percent jump from the 2010 first quarter .

Future forecasts

Apple terminate the first quarter with $ 59.7 billion in John Cash and short - full term investments , an addition of $ 8.7 billion since the goal of the fiscal quaternary quarter .

For Apple ’s fiscal second quarter , which end in March , Oppenheimer told analyst to expect tax revenue of $ 22 billion and earnings of $ 4.90 per ploughshare . That compares to $ 13.5 billion in sales and earnings of $ 3.33 per part in the 2010 second quarter . Prior to Tuesday ’s call , psychoanalyst were seem for earnings of $ 4.43 per share on $ 20.62 billion in revenue .