In a telephone conference announcing the news, Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said the company's entire product line is strong.

"We sold more Macs than we have in any other quarter in Apple's history," Oppenheimer said. "We sold more iPhones in the September quarter than in all previous quarters combined. And we sold more iPods than in any prior non-holiday quarter."

Altogether, Oppenheimer said, Apple generated more revenue and higher earnings than in any comparable quarter in Apple's history.

The news of Apple's tremendous quarter was greeted warmly by Wall Street. In midafternoon trading, Apple's stock was up more than $4 per share even while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down nearly 400 points.

Thirteen Million and Counting

As positive as the sales were across Apple's product line, the driver of the revenue figures was clearly the iPhone, which is rapidly gaining a level of cultural status achieved by few products in American commerce.

In a single three-month period, Apple sold 6.9 million iPhones, easily cresting the 10 million-unit mark that CEO Steve Jobs predicted when he first introduced the device last year. In fact, total sales are closer to 13 million, making Apple the third-largest phone manufacturer in the world. Even more remarkable is the fact that the iPhone snuck past the BlackBerry in total sales for the month.

"Apple just reported one of the best quarters in its history, with a spectacular performance by the iPhone -- we sold more phones than RIM," said Jobs. "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."

As proof that Apple can't entirely ignore what's happening in the rest of the economic world, the company disappointed some observers by predicting that Apple's share price will rise between $1.06 and $1.35 a share in the next quarter. That's lower than the $1.66 per share predicted by some outside analysts.

New Markets To Conquer

Jobs made an unscheduled appearance during the quarterly results conference call and used the opportunity to speculate about the prospects for a new category of devices called netbooks, essentially thin clients designed to use the Web for data storage and processing.

Although Apple has not focused specifically on the category, Jobs said, the company hasn't ignored it altogether.

"You know, one of our entrants into that category, if you will, is the iPhone," Jobs noted, "for browsing the Internet, and doing e-mail and all the other things that a netbook lets you do. And being connected via the cellular network wherever you are, an iPhone is a pretty good solution for that, and it fits in your pocket."

He predicted that if the netbook category does take off, Apple will have "some pretty interesting ideas."