The expectations were high, but Apple has easily exceeded them, reporting a 67 percent surge in fourth-quarter earnings.

Sales were strong across the board, rising 29 percent in the quarter.

Shares of Apple rose in after-hours trading. The stock has more than doubled this year.

For its fourth quarter ended September 29, the company earned $904 million, or $1.01 per share, on sales of $6.22 billion, compared with $542 million, or 62 cents per share, on revenue of $4.84 billion in the quarter a year earlier.

Sales of iPod rose 17 percent, with 10.2 million of the music players being sold.

Sales of the iPhone totaled 1,119,000 in  the much-hyped smart phone's first full quarter on the market, helped perhaps by the $200 price cut that went into effect on September 5. Cumulative 2007 iPhone sales were 1,389,000.

Apple also continued to gain market share in its core personal computing business. The company achieved 34 percent growth over the fourth quarter of 2006 with a record 2,164,000 Macintosh computers shipped during the period.

Over all, Apple generated over $24 billion in revenue and $3.5 billion in net income in fiscal 2007.

"We're looking forward to a strong December quarter as we enter the holiday season with Apple's best products ever," said Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive.

Peter Oppenheimer, the chief financial officer, said that the company expects revenue of about $9.2 billion and earnings of about $1.42 per share in the first quarter of fiscal 2008.