The people in Cupertino are extremely confident there’s no threat from other smartphone vendors at the moment

Oct 20, 2009 09:31 GMT  ·  By

During Apple’s FY '09 Fourth Quarter Results Conference Call with analysts, the company’s COO, Tim Cook, revealed that iPhone competitors were still years behind the latest version of its popular smartphone. "Frankly I think people are trying to catch up with the first iPhone two years ago," Cook said. "We've long since moved beyond that."

Cook’s statements undoubtedly come in light of the competition’s various attempts to replicate the functionality (and sometimes, even the look) of Apple's elusive iPhone. The Android operating system is one such attempt to take a bite out of the iPhone’s market-share, but, according to AppleInsider, Google’s smartphone OS has been largely unsuccessful so far. Another example is the Motorola Droid, leaked in pictures earlier this week, and known to be running Android. Still, Peter Oppenheimer, Apple CFO, said his company was not concerned by anything rolled out by its competitors.

"I think it shows there is an intense appetite for Apple's latest technology," he said, "and we were very pleased with the result." "We are continuing to focus on delivering state-of-the-art products at price points our competitors can't match and will provide increasing value to our customers," he added, according to AppleInsider. FY '09 Q4 saw Apple selling a record 7.4 million iPhones, a seven-percent increase over the year-ago quarter, netting Apple over $2 billion in revenue.

In the official report following Apple’s Q4 earnings disclosure, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is cited as saying, "We are thrilled to have sold more Macs and iPhones than in any previous quarter. We’ve got a very strong lineup for the holiday season and some really great new products in the pipeline for 2010."

"We are delighted with our September quarter and fiscal 2009 results," Peter Oppenheimer added. "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."