Apple pulls in profits from iPods

The firm says it is excited about future iPod products

The continued popularity of iPod personal music players has helped Apple Computer see quarterly profits rise by 48% compared with a year earlier.

More than 8 million iPods were shipped in its third fiscal quarter, representing a rise of 32% from 2005.

Revenue hit $4.37bn in the quarter to 1 July 2006 from $3.52bn a year earlier.

Analysts said the results were above expectations. Shares in the firm rose by 7.5% in after-hours trading, having shed 24% since early May.

'Thrilled'

"[The] iPod continued to earn a US market share of over 75% and we are extremely excited about future iPod products in our pipeline," said Steve Jobs, the firm's chief executive.

The results for the quarter were very solid, above expectations Shannon Cross Analyst, Cross Research

The strength in iPod results allayed fears from investors that the business could be slowing down.

"The results for the quarter were very solid, above expectations," said analyst Shannon Cross from Cross Research.

The firm also highlighted that the sale of Macintosh computers had risen.

Apple shipped 1.33 million Macintosh computers, a rise of 12% on a year earlier.

"We're thrilled with the growth of our Mac business, and especially that over 75% of the Macs sold during the quarter used Intel processors," said Mr Jobs.

The firm moved over to Intel processors on its computers and launched software that allows Microsoft's Windows to run on Macintosh computers.

Despite the good news, the latest results also include a warning that the internal investigation regarding the way stock options were issued could have an impact on the firm's finances.

In late June, Apple Computer announced that it had found "irregularities" in the way it has issued stock options to some of its staff, including founder Steve Jobs.

Apple is not alone; many firms in the US have been said to mishandle stock option schemes to employees.