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Revenues of $7.1 billion generated a profit of $1,004 million; previous record figures, reported for the same quarter last year, were $5,749 million and $565 million respectively. The company sold 21,066,000 iPods, a 50 per cent increase on last year, and 1,606,000 Macs. Although up sharply on last year, they were 4,000 down on the previous, back-to-school quarter.

Apple also enjoyed buoyant revenues from its music business, finally nailing the suggestion that iTunes sales were flagging. Revenues from 'Music Related Products and Services', excluding iPods, rose

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by 29 per cent to $634 million. There were small year-on-year increases in software sales and in revenues from the company's retail stores.

Chief operating officer Tim Cook said that around 50 per cent of Mac buyers in the retail stores are new to the platform. The company's Boot Camp software for running Windows on an Intel Mac appears to have contributed to the number of switchers, with 1.5 million downloads to date.

Chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer said that he expects revenues for the current quarter, when Apple TV will begin shipping, to be in the region of $4.8 to $4.9 billion, compared to $4.4 billion a year ago. The conservative outlook was attributed to expectations of slightly lower gross margins and slower software sales ahead of the spring release OS X 10.5 Leopard.

Piper Jaffray analyst said that investors can expect Apple to perform rather better than its public statements suggest.

'Their guidance is always conservative,' he said. 'It's a bunch of hoo-ha.

'Last time they beat their own guidance by 16 per cent. And it's undeniable now that they're running away with the digital music market.'