Apple Sells 7 Million iPads in Record-Breaking Quarter

One day after announcing that Steve Jobs was taking a leave of absence from the company, Apple has reported record-breaking earnings, with revenue of more than $26 billion for its fiscal first quarter, which includes holiday sales.

During the quarter, Apple sold 7.3 million iPads, 16.2 million iPhones, 4.1 million Macs and 19 million iPods. That brings the total number of iPads sold to nearly 15 million since the device was released last April.

The success of iPad doesn’t appear to be coming at the expense of Mac sales though, as some analysts had projected. Mac sales were up 23% year-over-year, setting a new record for the company.

iPhone sales were up 86% from the same quarter last year, with Apple remaining bullish on its prospects thanks to its impending launch on Verizon. “We’ve got some exciting things in the pipeline for this year including iPhone 4 on Verizon which customers can’t wait to get their hands on,” Jobs said in a statement.

Shares of Apple — which opened down about 5% this morning in the wake of the Jobs news — continued to rebound after hours following the initial release of the earnings report.

Apple is holding a conference call at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT to discuss the results in-depth and undoubtedly face questions from analysts about Jobs’s health and the company’s plans for a successor. Stay tuned to Mashable throughout the afternoon for additional coverage.

Source: Mashable