Cook attributed the renewed strength of Mac desktops to the one-day refresh of its entire line last month, even though Gottheil at the time had called the roll-out Cook argued otherwise, saying that sales of the new iMac, Mac mini, and Mac Pro surged in the last weeks of the quarter.

Asked about netbooks, the category of small, inexpensive notebooks that has been responsible for an increase in Windows PC sales, Apple's executives again dismissed the concept as unworthy of their attention.

"When I look at what's being sold [as netbooks] I see terrible software and junkie hardware," Cooks said. "It's just not a good experience, and not something that we would put our brand on. I think it's a stretch to call them a personal computer."

But as before, Apple hedged. "We're always looking at the space," Cook added. "If we can find a way when we can deliver an innovative product, then we'll do that. We do have ideas in that space, and the product pipeline for the Mac is fantastic."

"They hemmed and hawed, but I think that they're leaning more toward something slotted between the iPod Touch and the [US]$999 MacBook," said Gottheil, referring to his prediction that although Apple won't launch a netbook-style copycat, it will introduce something this year to compete with those PCs on price.