With 37 million iPhones and 15 million iPads,Apple sales rise 73%

Apple reported quarterly profit that more than doubled as holiday purchases of the iPhone catapulted sales to a record. Apple sales  rose 73%, to $46.3 billion. Apple sold about 37 million iPhones; the previous record was 20.34 million. Customers snapped up the 4S, which went on sale in October, a week after the death of co-founder Steve Jobs. The results mark the first time the company's quarterly revenue topped Hewlett-Packard Co.'s
In December, about 45% of U.S. shoppers who bought a smartphone in the previous three months said they purchased an iPhone, up from 25% in a study done two months earlier, 

Apple sold 15.4 million iPads, topping the 13.5 million projected by analysts. iPhone sales on average were predicted to reach 30.2 million.

Apple as as of  Jan,2012 controls  62% of the tablet market in the third quarter, according to researcher IDC.The popularity of the iPad and iPhone has also buoyed Apple 's line of Mac computers. The company sold 5.2 million Macs in the first quarter, vs. 4.9 million in the previous quarter.