Software giant Apple has reported 15 per cent rise in its net income at $1.21 billion in the third quarter ended June 27 this year driven by strong sales of iPhones and Macintosh computers in the period.

In comparison, Apple had net income of $1.07 billion in the same period a year ago, the company said in a statement.

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"We are extremely pleased to report record non-holiday quarter revenue and earnings and quarterly cash flow from operations of $2.3 billion," Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said. 

International sales accounted for 44 per cent of the quarter's revenue, the company said.

Apple sold 2.6 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, representing four per cent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The company also saw a 626 per cent unit growth in the sales of iPhones at 5.2 million in the third quarter over the year-ago period.

During the quarter, the company sold 10.2 million iPods, representing seven per cent unit decline from the same period in the previous fiscal.

"We are making our most innovative products ever and our customers are responding," said Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs, adding "we are thrilled to have sold over 5.2 million iPhones during the quarter and users have downloaded more than 1.5 billion applications from our Apple Store in its first year."

About Apple's outlook for the next quarter, Oppenheimer said: "Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2009, we expect revenue in the range of about $8.7 billion to $8.9 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about $1.18 to $1.23."

For nine months ended June 27, 2009, Apple posted a net income of $4.03 billion compared to $3.69 billion in the year earlier, the statement added.

The company registered net sales of $26.67 billion in the nine months ended June this year against $24.58 billion in the same period last fiscal.

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