Apple Computer has posted bumper quarterly profits, boosted by strong sales of its iPod music players.

The company said for the first three months to June 25, profits rose to $320m, up from $61m in the same quarter a year ago.

Sales surged 75 per cent to $3.52bn from $2.01bn last year.

Apple shipped 1.2 million Macintosh computers and 6 million iPods during the last quarter, representing a 35 per cent increase in Mac sales and a 616 per cent rise in iPods over the year-ago quarter.

"We are delighted to report Apple's best quarter ever in both revenue and earnings," said Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive officer.

"The launch of Mac OS X Tiger has been a tremendous success, and we have more amazing new products in the pipeline."

Shares in Apple rose 11 cents to close at $38.35 Wednesday on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Apple released is latest earnings report after the close of regular trading.