Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference in San Francisco, Peter Oppenheimer added that if history is any indicator, Apple would see a bump in revenue the quarter that Leopard -- Apple's name for Mac OS X 10.5 -- is released. When asked to give a more specific ship date for Leopard, however, Oppenheimer declined, repeating only what Apple has said for months: "This spring."

As for how Leopard will stack up against Vista, Oppenheimer wasn't shy: "We believe we have the superior OS on the market today, and [this] release will only extend that. With the features and functionally and stability and security of Mac OS X, I don't really see Vista as a threat."

Perhaps keying off one of the television ads currently in rotation, Oppenheimer took a shot at Vista's hardware demands. "Since the hardware requirements for Vista require much of the installed base to buy a new PC, it gives [the] Mac an opportunity to be considered," he said.

Leopard, which Apple CEO Steve Jobs demonstrated at Apple's developers conference last August, has had a low profile so far in 2007; the OS was a no-show during Jobs' presentation at January's MacWorld conference. Instead, Jobs put the spotlight on the new iPhone, which is scheduled to ship in June.

In fact, Oppenheimer used the same Morgan Stanley event to tout the iPhone and the upcoming Apple TV device.