No wonder it was a blowout quarter.

After market close Monday, Apple reported a fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $1.67 billion, or $1.82 a share, on revenue of $9.87 billion. That topped the estimates of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who’d expected the company to earn $1.42 a share on revenue of $9.2 billion.

The company sold 3.05 million Macs during the quarter, a 17 percent increase over last year. It sold 10.2 million iPods, an eight percent decline from the year-ago quarter.

And iPhones? Apple (AAPL) sold 7.4 million of those–seven percent more than during the same period last year. So much for those supply-chain issues that some analysts warned might undermine iPhone sales.

“We are thrilled to have sold more Macs and iPhones than in any previous quarter,” said CEO Jobs. “We’ve got a very strong lineup for the holiday season and some really great new products in the pipeline for 2010.” [Editor's Note: "...really great new products"--is that code for a tablet?]

Apple shares, which closed at $189.86 today, are spiking as I write this. At $203.90, they’re up more than seven percent in extended trading.

Looking ahead to its fiscal first quarter, Apple estimates it will earn between $1.70 and $1.78 a share on revenue in a range of $11.3 billion to $11.6 billion. That’s comically lower than the $1.91 a share on $11.45 billion in sales that analysts are forecasting. But as today’s results clearly demonstrate, Apple subscribes to the underpromise-and-over-deliver school of guidance theory, so there’s likely little cause for concern.

So, to recap: Apple sold more Macs and more iPhones than in any previous quarter in the company’s history. Before the holiday quarter. And in midst of the worst economy we’ve seen in 50 years.

Notes From the Earnings Call:

• Apple COO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer are handling the earnings call. CEO Steve Jobs will not be attending.
• Oppenheimer says this was Apple’s second-highest quarterly revenue ever. Highest-ever operating margin. “We are thrilled with these record-breaking results, particularly given the economic environment around us.” Obviously.
• Macs are showing “fantastic momentum,” says Oppenheimer. Sales have outpaced the market in 19 of the past 20 quarters. Quarterly sales were up 17 percent; portable sales, 35 percent. Interesting: 42 percent growth in Asia.
• Moving on to iPods: Sales were down to 10.2 million from 11 million a year ago. But iPod touch sales doubled. MP3 market share in the U.S. is now more than 70 percent (according to NPD, I think).
• iPhone sales were up seven percent. Apple will begin selling iPhones in China later this month. More than 85,000 apps in App Store. Two billion downloads.
• Apple opened 15 new stores during the quarter. Now has 273. Will soon open first two stores in France, including one at the Louvre.
• Moving on to the Q&A. Asked about those iPhone 3GS supply issues I mentioned earlier, Cook acknowledges that demand did outstrip supply in a number of countries. But the situation improved “markedly” in September. How are things looking for China? Cook: “I would have liked to have had more, honestly, because we were still short in some countries at the end of the quarter.”
• Apple is obviously very excited about the iPhone’s impending debut in China. “There’s a good opportunity, and we’re really excited to get started,” says Cook. “It’s the largest market in the world in terms of total phones.”
• No comment on the broader economy. “We just spend our time projecting our business and leave the economy to the economists.”
• Does Apple worry about iPhone rivals? Android? Not really, says Cook. “We feel very good about suiting up and competing against anyone.” Our competitors are still trying to catch up with the first iPhone, he adds.
• Snow Leopard? Cook says the company’s been “pleasantly surprised” by sales of Apple’s latest OS.
• How does Apple benefit from carrier-exclusivity iPhone deals? Cook says carriers with exclusivity deals are willing to invest more in the platform and that means greater innovation. Visual voicemail is an example of that. That said, he adds, “We’ve found no lack of people wanting to sell iPhones, frankly.”
• International store revenue up more than 20 percent, on average.
• More on iPhone supply issues. Cook insists this is not a component issue, though he notes that silicon can sometimes be hard to get. “We feel good about our position now.”
• And still more on iPhone supply issues: How many iPhones would Apple have sold if it had an adequate supply? Impossible to say, really, Cook says, adding that 3GS units were in short supply virtually everywhere in September.
• Enterprise demand for the iPhone is very strong. It’s either being deployed or already in use at some 50 percent of Fortune 100 companies. Same with Europe and the FT 100. Widely used in higher ed and government as well.
• But perhaps not widely enough. Asked about institutional sales, Cook says Apple isn’t seeing much stimulus funding. The company’s worried about state spending. Says Cook, “We may see more this quarter, but it’s too early to tell.”

But that was the hand that Apple (AAPL) was dealt. And so, with its stock trading at a little over $91 in a dismal market, the company reported fourth quarter results. And lo and behold, they’re good. Very good.

Apple, which typically low-balls its earnings forecasts and then exceeds them, appears to have done so once again. The company posted revenue of $7.9 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.14 billion, quite a bit more than the profit of $1 a share on $7.8 billion in revenue it had forecast. It shipped 2,611,000 Macs during the quarter, over 11 million iPods and nearly seven million iPhones–6,892,000 to be exact. Said CFO Peter Oppenheimer, “We had a quarterly record for Macintosh sales, and we blew it out on the iPhone.”

Apple CEO Steve Jobs was even more effusive in his praise. “Apple just reported one of the best quarters in its history, with a spectacular performance by the iPhone–we sold more phones than RIM,” Jobs said in a statement. “We don’t yet know how this economic downturn will affect Apple. But we’re armed with the strongest product line in our history, the most talented employees and the best customers in our industry. And $25 billion of cash safely in the bank with zero debt.”

Not “the best quarter ever,” as Jobs is often wont to say. But one of them. An impressive showing amid the current econaclypse.

And what of future guidance? Apple is, once again keeping with tradition. The company delivered a first-quarter outlook well below analysts’ forecasts.

One of the investments we make is to introduce new products that initially cost more because they deliver an entirely new level of value to the customer. Then we ride the cost curves down with value engineering and volume manufacturing, leaving us far head of our competitors. We have some of these types of investments in front of us that I can’t discuss.”

– Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, July 21, 2008

The media will gather tomorrow at Apple’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters for an invitation-only event–presumably about updates to its MacBook and MacBook Pro lines. And as with every Apple (AAPL) product launch, tomorrow’s has been preceded by feverish speculation about what form, exactly, those updates will take. Among the rumors currently making the rounds:

• Apple will uncrate a new line of MacBooks whose cases are carved from a single brick of aircraft-grade aluminum.
• Apple’s refreshed MacBook line will include a machine priced at below $1000, perhaps even as low as $800.
• The new MacBooks will feature glass, multi-touch trackpads and LED-backlit displays.
• They’ll swap out Intel’s chipset–not the central processor–for Nvidia’s MCP7A, which reportedly blows the doors off Intel’s G45 in the graphics department.
• Blu-ray will be offered as an option on high-end models.
• Finally, Apple’s new line of portables will include the unmatchable “state-of-the-art new product” to which Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer and COO Tim Cook referred earlier this year, and that product will be a tablet. Something along the lines of the “MacBook Touch” described by MacDailyNews back in July.
  

  Think MacBook screen, possibly a bit smaller, in glass with iPhone-like but fuller-featured multi-touch. Gesture library. Full Mac OS X. This is why they bought P.A. Semi. Possibly with Immersion’s haptic tech. Slot-loading SuperDrive. Accelerometer. GPS. … App Store-compatible, able to run Mac apps, too.”

An interesting spread of rumors, some quite likely, others improbable … and yet entirely plausible because, after all, it’s Apple we’re talking about. We’ll find out which of these proves true tomorrow at 10 a.m. PDT. I’ll be covering the event live, so be sure pay us a visit tomorrow.

The event may explain as well the “future product transition” that compelled Apple to forecast a nearly 5 percent drop in gross profit margin for the final quarter of the 2008 fiscal year. Apple offered few details of that transition, though CFO Peter Oppenheimer said during a July earnings call that it will involve “state-of-the-art new products that our competitors just aren’t going to be able to match.”

“One of the investments we make is to introduce new products that initially cost more because they deliver an entirely new level of value to the customer,” Apple COO Tim Cook said during the same call. “Then we ride the cost curves down with value engineering and volume manufacturing, leaving us far ahead of our competitors. We have some of these types of investments in front of us that I can’t discuss.”

Until Tuesday, Oct. 14, that is.

Clearly.

That said, Apple (AAPL) seems to have recognized its misstep and is working to temper concerns over Jobs’s health. The New York Times reports that Jobs has been telling colleagues that he is cancer-free and that his gaunt appearance lately is due to nutritional issues arising from his cancer surgery. Finally, Apple does indeed have a succession strategy in place should Jobs step away from his current duties. Of course, that strategy is confidential, like pretty much every other aspect of Apple’s business.

Just what that transition may be, Oppenheimer would not say, though he did offer that it will involve “state-of-the-art new products that our competitors just aren’t going to be able to match.” Later in the call, Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook elaborated a bit. “One of the investments we make is to introduce new products that initially cost more because they deliver an entirely new level of value to the customer,” Cook said. “Then we ride the cost curves down with value engineering and volume manufacturing, leaving us far head of our competitors. We have some of these types of investments in front of us that I can’t discuss.”

So again, what are these mysterious investments? Updates to the MacBook and the iPod, most likely. Both lines are due for refreshing. “We believe Apple is readying new iPods and new portables that will apply downward margin pressure in the September quarter and into FY 09,” Piper Jaffray (PJC) analyst Gene Munster wrote in a research note to clients. “We believe there is an 80 percent chance Apple will introduce redesigned MacBooks and possibly new MacBook Pros at lower price points. Specifically, Apple may re-enter the $999 price point (currently $1099)with the MacBook, or test the $1,799 price point with the MacBook Pro (currently $1999). In addition, we expect slightly redesigned iPods in the September quarter, with lower-cost touch-based iPods for the holiday season. We believe Apple is getting slightly more aggressive with its pricing; but overall, the company is not diverting from its strategy of premium pricing.”

Steve loves Apple, and serves as the chief executive at the pleasure of Apple’s board, and has no plans to leave Apple. Steve’s health is a private matter.”

– Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer refuses to answer a question about CEO Steve Jobs’s health during the company’s Monday earnings call.

The company shipped 2,496,000 Macs during the quarter, 41 percent more than it did during the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPod sales were 11,011,000, 12 percent more than one year ago. Quarterly iPhone sales were 717,000, compared with 270,000.

“We’re proud to report the best June quarter for both revenue and earnings in Apple’s history,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, recycling his oft-recyled “best quarter ever” soundbyte. “We set a new record for Mac sales, we think we have a real winner with our new iPhone 3G and we’re busy finishing several more wonderful new products to launch in the coming months.”

Apple’s (AAPL) guidance for the current fourth quarter was as conservative as its guidance for the third. The company said it expects $7.8 billion in revenue and earnings per share of $1. That’s well below below the $1.24 a share in profit and $8.3 billion in sales anticipated by analysts.

Given all this then, why are Apple shares trading down this morning? Seems concerns about CEO Steve Jobs’s gaunt appearance at Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference in June have not subsided, nor will they, now that The New York Post is questioning his health. “Apple’s hedge fund investors are very worried,” said a Wall Street source who has spoken with some of the company’s stakeholders,” the Post reports. ” … Multiple sources who have met with–and in some cases even dined with–Jobs in the weeks surrounding the introduction of the iPhone 3G on July 11, said they came away troubled by his thin appearance.”