The Silicon Valley-based company posted revenue of $9.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.58 billion, or $1.76 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $7.1 billion and net quarterly profit of $1 billion, or $1.14 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 34.7 percent, up from 31.2 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 45 percent of the quarter’s revenue

During the quarter, Apple sold 22,121,000 iPods representing 5 per cent unit growth and 17 per cent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone sales were 2,315,000. Last week, at MacWorld, Apple announce it has sold 4 million iPhones since the launch and the company is on track to meet its goal of selling 10 million units until the end of 2008.

“Apple’s revenue grew 35 percent year-over-year to $9.6 billion, an increase of almost $2.5 billion over the previous December quarter’s record-breaking results,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Our strong results produced cash flow from operations of over $2.7 billion during the quarter, yielding an ending cash balance of over $18.4 billion. Looking ahead to the second quarter of fiscal 2008, we expect revenue of about $6.8 billion and earnings per diluted share of about $.94.”

The Mac unit has registered a growth of 44 percent and revenue growth of 47 percent compared with last year. Apple shipped 2,319,000 computers and the company estimates that 19 percent of the Mac installed base is running Leopard, Mac OS X 10.5. Leopard generated $170 million in revenue for Apple during the first quarter.

Last week, at MacWorld, Steve Jobs announced MAcBook Air, the world’s thinnest laptop, and

unveiled upgrades to the iPhone, iTunes Movie Rentals and a wireless gadget that automatically backs up data from Mac computers and laptops.

Apple hopes its new technology will help it dominate the online movie rental business in the same way it dominates the sale of music tracks with iTunes.