Apple notched up record sales in its first business quarter, as profit rocketed 58 per cent to $1.58bn (£807m) from $1bn (£511m) in 2006.

The company shipped 2.3 million computers during the period, a rise of 44 per cent on last year. Revenue soared 35 per cent to $9.6bn (£4.9bn).

"We are thrilled to report our best quarter ever, with the highest revenue and earnings in Apple’s history," said chief executive Steve Jobs.

"We have an incredibly strong new product pipeline for 2008, starting with MacBook Air, Mac Pro and iTunes Movie Rentals in the first two weeks."

Apple is forecasting revenue of $6.8bn (£3.5bn) for the second quarter of 2008.