Apple announces double profits and record iPhone and iPad sales

The news everyone has suspected for some time has now officially arrived: 2011 was a pretty spectacular year for Apple.

It was no surprise to hear this morning that Apple had achieved record sales of its Mac (up 26 per cent), iPhone (up more than 100 per cent) and iPad brands. 

Sales of its iPod models fell by more than 20 per cent, but profits remained high as sales were strong on the more expensive iPod Touch models.

As for profits, the Q4 numbers were up year-on-year from $6 billion to more than $13 billion, more than doubling and well ahead of analyst forecasts. Revenue was up to almost $50 billion, with the Apple iTunes Store generating close to $2 billion on its own.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook said: “We could not be happier. I think it's remarkable that we've shifted 55 million iPads and we've only been in the market since April 2010.

"Apple's momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline."
It will be interesting to see how 2012 pans out for Apple. It’s impossible to know what the saturation point will be for tablet PCs, especially top-end models faced with budget models such as Amazon’s Kindle Fire.

A stronger showing is also expected form higher end Android tablets in 2012, while Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 cannot be ignored by the market.