• by Mark Walsh , October 18, 2010

Apple easily beat analyst expectations for its fiscal fourth quarter on surging sales of the iPhone 4 and iPad. For the quarter, Apple  reported net income of $4.31 billion, or $4.64 per share, compared to net income of $2.53 billion, or $2.77 per share, for the year-earlier period. Revenue jumped 67% to $20.3 billion. Analysts forecast earnings of $4.10 per share on revenue of $18.9 billion.

Apple sold 14.1 million iPhones in the quarter, up 91% from a year ago, and 4.19 million iPads. iPod sales continued to lag, falling 11% to 9.05 million from a year ago, but Mac sales were up 27% to 3.89 million for the quarter. "We are blown away to report over $20 billion in revenue and over $4 billion in after-tax earnings—both all-time records for Apple," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, in a typically understated statement.

Apple has announced a "Back to the Mac" event scheduled for Wed. Oct. 20, at which it's speculated the company could announce a new addition to its Mac OS X operating system or new hardware.