In almost all market segments, including the personal computer sector where it is experiencing renewed interest from consumers, corporate and educational institutions, and especially in the wireless handset area, Apple is setting new records and leaving exhausted rivals in its wake.

While mobile handset market leader and rival Nokia Corp. groans about the competition that "just keeps on coming," Apple has ignored the harsh economic environment of the last several quarters as its customers swarmed over the company's glitzy products, pushing up sales and profits to record heights.

In the September quarter, Apple breezed past analysts' sales and profits forecasts, unfazed by the outpour of negative news from the general economy to rake up huge sales of its Macintosh computer and iPhone devices and bucking the trend of year-over-year revenue declines seen at rival technology companies.

The PC and consumer electronics company isn't just looking backward, though. It is planning to roll out new equipments for end-of-year holiday sales and in 2010, according to chairman and CEO Steve Jobs, further wetting appetites and lighting a fire under Apple shares following the release of September quarter results on Monday (Oct. 19).

"We are thrilled to have sold more Macs and iPhones than in any previous quarter," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We've got a very strong lineup for the holiday season and some really great new products in the pipeline for 2010."

Not only did Apple exceed estimates for its recently ended quarter, the company's guidance for the December quarter more than meets current projections, according to executives at the Cupertino, Calif.-based company.

"We are delighted with our September quarter and fiscal 2009 results," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. "For the full year, we grew revenue by 12 percent and net income by 18 percent in extraordinarily challenging times. Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue in the range of about $11.3 billion to $11.6 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about $1.70 to $1.78."

In the fiscal fourth quarter ended Sept. 26, Apple reported net income rose to $1.7 billion, or $1.82 per share, eclipsing the $1.1 billion, or $1.26 per share, posted in the comparable quarter of 2008.

Revenue climbed strongly to $9.9 billion from $7.9 billion in the fiscal 2008 period, marking Apple as perhaps the only company so far in its sector to record year-over-year sales and profit gains. Analysts were on average expecting Apple to report revenue of $9.2 billion for the just-ended quarter.

Rivals in the mobile handset industry like Nokia have so far reported negative year-over-year sales figures for the September quarter. In Nokia's case, the company's third quarter sales improved sequentially but the company admitted its smartphone sales could have been better had it not run into problems in its procurement of critical components.

All of Apple's products performed well, except for the iPod music player, which recorded negative growth as customers opted for the iPhone by record numbers. The company's sales of iPhones grew to 7.4 million, up 7 percent from the fiscal 2008 fourth quarter, while unit shipment of Macintosh computers climbed 17 percent, to 3.1 million. iPod sales fell 8 percent to 10.2 million units.

Although iPhone sales rose during the recently ended quarter, EE Times analysts Rick Merritt observed Apple is facing some competition itself in the smartphone segment, noting this impacted total shipment of the product during the quarter. (See iPhones slow, iPods fall.)

Research firm iSuppli Corp. estimated Apple gained additional market share in the smartphone segment in the third quarter building on top of the two percentage points it added in the second quarter from the preceding quarter.

"Although iSuppli hasn't finalized its third-quarter market share figures, we believe Apple's share of the smart phone market increased again in the third calendar quarter," the researcher said in a statement.

iSuppli said it expects total smartphone unit sales will increase about 11.6 percent in 2009 but sees Apple's shipment rising 37 percent during the same period.

The researcher said Apple's share of the personal computer market is also climbing although it did not provide third quarter figures. In the second quarter, Apple's share of the PC market rose to 3.7 percent from 3.2 percent in the first quarter, iSuppli said.