Oppenheimer also said the company had met its goal of selling more than 10 million iPhones during calendar year 2008. (By the end of September, Apple had sold 9.3 million iPhones. Presumably Oppenheimer was suggesting that in the intervening 21 days Apple has sold more than 700,000 additional iPhones, putting the company over the top.)

In another sign of strong iPhone sales, Apple said that it sold more phones in the quarter than Blackberry-maker Research In Motion (RIM).

"Apple beat RIM," Jobs announced during the conference call. "In our most recent quarter, RIM sold 6.1 million Blackberry devices, compared to our 6.9 iPhones," Jobs said. "Apple outsold RIM last quarter, and this is a milestone for us. RIM is a good company that makes good products, and so it is surprising that we could outsell them in any quarter after only 15 months in the market."

Jobs said that when measured by revenues, at $4.6 billion in phone revenue Apple "has become the world's third-largest mobile phone supplier," after Nokia ($12.7 billion) and Samsung ($5.9 billion), and ahead of Sony Ericcson ($4.2 billion), LG ($3.4 billion), Motorola ($3.2 billion), and RIM ($2.1 billion). "Pretty amazing," Jobs said. "Not bad for being in the market only 15 months."

Jobs also noted that Apple expects the 200 millionth iPhone application to be downloaded from its App Store some time on Wednesday, reaching that milestone in a little more than 100 days since the App Store came online. "We've never seen anything like this in our careers," he told analysts.