Apple has defied the economic gloom by reporting better-than-expected quarterly results, despite a slowdown in iPhone shipments. For its fiscal 2009 first quarter (ended 27 December 2008), traditionally the company’s strongest, Apple reported record revenue of US$10.17 billion and record net profit of US$1.61 billion. This compared to revenue of US$9.6 billion and net profit of US$1.58 billion in the year-ago quarter. According to a Reuters report, Wall Street analysts had estimated revenues of US$9.74 billion on average. Sales were driven by the Mac – Apple sold 2.5 million Macs during the quarter, a rise of 9 percent year-on-year – and the iPod, which saw annual quarterly sales rise 3 percent to 22.7 million units.

Apple sold 4.4 million iPhone units in the quarter, an 88 percent rise from a year earlier – a period when the first generation iPhone was available in only a handful of markets. However, iPhone sales slumped significantly from the previous quarter, which had seen the launch of iPhone 3G and unit sales of 6.9 million. Analysts had expected iPhone sales of roughly 5 million units for the latest quarter, said Reuters. Apple’s overall encouraging results come after a tumultuous few weeks for the company that has seen it come under criticism for how it has communicated the health problems of its CEO Steve Jobs. According to a Bloomberg report this week, US regulators are currently investigating whether Apple misled investors over the issue.