Apple's Sweet Profits and Sour Legal Woes

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Anderson's comments were the first in public by anyone with direct knowledge of the granting of options at Apple that contradict the official version Apple has so far given both the public. "This was something that was supposed to have been settled and was over," says Senior Analyst Shaw Wu of American Technology Research in San Francisco. "I think even the SEC was surprised by this outburst."

Rosy Horizons?

Apple's board fired back with a broadside of its own, issued minutes before the earnings press release. In it, Apple's outside directors, including Google (GOOG) CEO Eric Schmidt and former Vice-President Al Gore, defended Jobs, saying he had cooperated with both Apple's own internal investigation and that of the SEC. "The SEC investigated the matter thoroughly and its complaint speaks for itself, in terms of what it says, what it does not say, who it charges, and who it does not charge. We have complete confidence in the conclusions of Apple's independent investigation, and in Steve's integrity and his ability to lead Apple."

With results like those posted in the most recent quarter, that confidence is well-founded. Apple's new emphasis on consumer-electronic products has analysts keenly focused on coming quarters, says Shannon Cross, analyst with Soleil-Cross Research in New York. "Everyone's looking past this quarter and toward the fiscal first quarter, which is the calendar fourth quarter," she says. "It's all about the guidance going forward." As for the current quarter, which ends in June, Apple said it expects profit of 66 cents a share on revenues of $5.1 billion.

And yet, the questions won't completely go away. They will next be trained on and come from former general counsel and a longtime key aide to Jobs, Nancy Heinen. Sued by the SEC for her alleged role in the backdating affair, Heinen has been promised a vigorous defense by her lawyers. Jobs could be deposed, and may be called as a witness at trial, assuming there's no settlement, legal experts say.

In defending herself against charges of alleged wrongdoing, Heinen and her legal team will have no choice but to either use information as yet unknown to weaken the case against her, or to shift the blame for any alleged wrongdoing to someone else. Here the obvious target invariably will be Jobs, no matter how much Apple's board insists otherwise. Reasonable minds can certainly remember and interpret past events differently. Doubt, small though it may be, will be the inevitable result.

Hesseldahl is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com.