Apple has disclosed that it shipped a staggering 5.3 million iPods during its fiscal second quarter ended March 26th.

The figure, up from 807,000 a year ago, has helped profit for the firm rise more than six-fold from 12 months ago with company sales boosted by 70 per cent.

In all, Apple revealed that the iPod accounted for $1.01 billion, or 31 per cent, of total revenue for the quarter.

“We are delighted to report a record second quarter for Apple in both revenue and earnings,” commented Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

“Apple is firing on all cylinders and we have some incredible new products in the pipeline for the coming year, starting with Mac OS X Tiger later this month.”

The total number of iPods sold now stands at over 15 million, a figure expected to continue escalating during 2005 according to market research group JupiterReserach.

“Apple shows no signs of losing momentum,” said Michael Gartenberg, VP and research director at JupiterResearch.

“The iPod is a consumer phenomenon. Apple dominates this sector and will dominate portable mp3 player growth over the medium term.”

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