Apple has closed off the most profitable quarter in its history, once again defying the economic recession.
Indeed, the firm could be forgiven for thinking the economic gloom was a figment of its competitors' imaginations after fourth quarter sales ended 26 September went 
up 25% year-on-year to $9.8bn (£5.9bn) and profits soared 46% to $1.66bn (£1bn).
"We are thrilled to have sold more Macs and iPhones than in any previous quarter," said Steve Jobs, Apple CEO who bullishly added, "We've got a very strong line-up for the holiday season and some really great products in the pipeline for 2010."
More than 3 million Macs were sold during the quarter, up 17% on a year ago and up 9% in revenues to $3.95bn.
Echoing 
the shift in the industry toward mobile computing, desktop shipments and revenues fell 16% and 20% respectively to 787m units and $1.1bn, as portables sales rose 35% to 2.266m and turnover went up 27% to $2.86bn.
Unit sales of the iPhone went up 7% to 7.4 million and revenues went up 185% to $2.3bn.
Only the performance of the iPod spoilt the otherwise rosy picture, as shipments unit sales went down 8% to 10.2m and revenues fell 6% to $1.5bn.
For the 12 months revenues were $36.5bn, up 12.4% and profit for the year amounted to $5.7bn, a 17.9% increase.
"Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue in the range of $11.3bn to $11.6bn," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple CFO.
Paul Kunert, Microscope