APPLE SETS ITS SIGHTS ON A NEW RIVAL: RIM

Forget Microsoft and the “I’m a Mac, and I’m a PC” debate. Apple Inc. boss Steve Jobs has a new rival he’s calling out in the media: iPhone rival Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry.

Jobs fired a shot across the bow of RIM co-CEOs James Balsillie and Michael Lazaridis yesterday in announcing his company’s fourth-quarter sales, trumpeting that monster sales for the new iPhone 3G outpaced the most recent quarterly output for the BlackBerry.

“We sold more phones than RIM,” he boasted yesterday.

Apple said yesterday it shipped 6.9 million iPhones in the three months ended in September, a 516 percent increase over last year that surpassed analyst expectations. It also topped the 6.1 million BlackBerry units RIM reported it shipped in its most recent quarterly shipment number.

Strong sales for the iPhone highlighted a big quarter for Apple, which saw revenue increase 27 percent to $7.90 billion and net income rise 26 percent to $1.14 billion.

During the quarter, shipments of Mac computers increased 21 percent to 2.6 million units, while iPod unit growth surged 8 percent to 11.1 million units.

Apple shares, which fell 7 percent, or $6.95, to $91.49, ahead of the announcement, were up as much as 12 percent, north of $102 per share, in after-hours trading.

However, for the second-straight quarter, the company issued a conservative forward sales projection. Apple is calling for revenue between $9 billion and $10 billion and earnings per diluted share between $1.06 and $1.35 in the company’s December quarter.

Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer acknowledged that it was a “wide target.”

Added Jobs, “We don’t yet know how this economic downturn will affect Apple.”

Analysts remain concerned about consumers’ willingness to shell out big bucks for pricey Apple products in a troubled economy – particularly personal computers.