Are Investors Unfairly Sour on Apple?

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"We overwhelmingly met this goal," Cook said. "We may have traded off a bit of unit volume, but it was the right decision."

Chinks in the Armor?

To be sure, questions surround some Apple products. While iPhone sales are generally on target, it doesn't seem to have the unstoppable momentum the iPod had a few years back. And Apple didn't disclose early order numbers for the new MacBook Air or the refurbished Apple TV, both of which were introduced at this month's Macworld conference in San Francisco. Apple has occasionally disclosed such figures in the past.

And for Apple's video strategy to really take off, the company has to make good on promises to develop a richer library of movies and TV shows available through iTunes. Apple came to dominate the music business largely because millions of people ripped their CD collections into iTunes. Because movies and shows are largely protected by software and DVDs that limit reproduction, Apple's video strategy relies far more on the cooperation of the big movie studios.

" An Outrageous Buying Opportunity"

Those concerns aside, there's one thing no one questions: whether Apple will continue releasing innovative products to keep consumer demand jumping. Analysts say that while consumers may not buy the latest upgrade of their existing PC or iPod, they might fork over some bucks for something entirely different—say, an iMac with an iPhone-like touch screen, or an iPhone that works with faster 3G cellular networks. Both are possibilities for later this year.

All these reasons mean Apple is likely far more prepared for an economic downdraft than most other tech companies. Sure, many consumers may put off purchases of the latest iPod or iPhone if the recession hits hard, but Mac sales should hold their own, says Harvard Professor David Yoffie: "Apple sells to the least price-sensitive part of the market. While no company is immune from a recession, Apple is a little less vulnerable."

Analyst Wolf puts it another way: "I think this is an outrageous buying opportunity. It's not a cheap stock, but you're getting a company that can grow at 25% a year for who knows how many years, at 25 times earnings. To me, that's a steal—recession or no recession."

Burrows is a senior writer for BusinessWeek, based in Silicon Valley .