Good tech results coming this quarter. On the heels of IBM, Google and Intel’s bullish numbers, Apple has reported a ripper. Sales of its MacBooks are up, and the company sold a staggering seven times as many iPhones in its June 2009 quarter as it did in the year-ago period.

At Apple, the news is all good. Founder and chief executive Steve Jobs is, mostly, back in the driver’s seat.

And on its quarterly result call this morning, the company announced net income was up 15% for the three months to June 28, and revenue up 12%. Both revenue and profit hit new records for a non-holiday quarter.

The key driver behind the numbers is the iPhone. Buoyed by the new 3GS, Apple sold 5.2 million iPhones during the quarter, or seven times (is there even a word for that? Seventuple?) as many handsets as it moved in the year-ago quarter. To be exact, it clocked a 626% increase in sales.

Mac sales were up 4% to 2.6 million units, despite an overall decline in the personal computer market of about 3%.

Eight billion songs were downloaded from iTunes.

Gross margin was 36.3%, up from 34.8% in the year-ago quarter, despite price cuts on many products (most of which didn't flow through to New Zealand as our dollar surged).

The only downside was iPod sales, which dipped 7% to 10.2 million units. Yet even here, there was a silver lining. Sales of the iPod Touch - easily the most expensive model - doubled.

Apple predicted both revenue and profit would be up again next quarter (see box above) if light on analysts’ expectations. However, the company perennially low-balls its forecasts, and investors took the pessimism with a grain of salt and Apple’s shares (NAS: AAPL) rose 3.8% after hours. 

What’s next? Wired reports today that an iPod Touch is on the way with a microphone and video camera - two elements that would make it a Skype-friendly alternative to a traditional cellphone.