Apple Computer's quarterly profit surpassed the most optimistic Wall Street targets on sales of iPods, Macintosh computers and Mac minis.
Profit rose more than sixfold on sales of its iPod digital music players, the Mac mini personal computer and new PowerBook notebook PCs.
Apple sold 5.31 million iPods, accounting for 31 per cent of the company's revenue.
But Apple's revenue forecast was less rosy, and the stock edged down. Shares initially rose 1.4 per cent in after-hours trade, but then fell as the company's revenue forecast for the current quarter was largely in line with Wall Street expectations rather than exceeding them.
Apple said net income for its fiscal second quarter rose to $290 million, or 34 cents per share, from $46 million, or 6 cents per share, on a split-adjusted basis. Revenue surged 70 per cent to $3.24 billion from $1.91 billion.
The company shipped 1.07 million Macintosh computers during the quarter. IMacs accounted for 467,000 of the Macs sold.
IPods accounted for 31 per cent, or $1.01 billion, of Apple's quarterly revenue, the company said. The iPod Shuffle, which holds 120 to 240 songs and costs $99 to $149, sold strongly in the quarter.
Shares of Apple fell $1.62, or 3.8 per cent, to close at $41.04 in regular trading on Nasdaq. In after-hours trade on the Inet electronic brokerage, the stock slipped to $40.50. Still, the shares have risen about 30 per cent so far this year, after tripling in 2004.