Booming iPad and iPhone sales push Apple quarterly profits up 78%

APPLE, whose chief executive Steve Jobs is taking a medical leave of absence, posted a 78% jump in quarterly profit, helped by sales of iPads, iPhones and Macintosh computers.

Net income in the fiscal first quarter rose to $6 billion (€4.48bn), or $6.43 a share, from $3.38bn, or $3.67, a year earlier, Apple said yesterday. Analysts projected profit of $5.41 a share, the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Sales increased 71% to a record $26.7bn in the quarter, typically Apple’s strongest, after it sold 7.33 million iPad tablet computers in the first Christmas season for the device.