The good news: Apple is about to unveil some shiny new toys for its fans. The bad news: The gizmo and computer maker offered no reassurances Monday about either the health of CEO Steve Jobs or that it can keep up its momentum as the U.S. economy slips toward recession.

That ambivalence drove Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) shares down 10% in after-hours trading, or $16.59, to $149.70, even as Apple furnished yet more evidence Jobs has spiked the water supply at the company’s Cupertino, Calif., campus with awesome sauce. No word on where Jobs and his pals get the stuff, but side-effects apparently include surging sales of older product lines: Sales of Macintosh computers jumped 41% in Apple’s third quarter to 2.5 million units, while iPod unit sales grew 12% to 11 million units.

The result: Net income surged 31% over the year-ago period. The company reported net income of $1.07 billion, or $1.19 per share, on sales of $7.5 billion, compared with net income of $818 million, or 92 cents per share, on sales of $5.4 billion for the same period a year ago. Those results were 11 cents above the consensus estimate of $1.08 reported by Thomson Financial. The strong showing came as Apple readied the latest version of its iPhone, the iPhone 3G, for launch July 11.

However, it was Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer’s remarks about the coming quarter and Jobs’ health that had investors scrambling to dump Apple shares. While Oppenheimer promised record iPhone sales in the fourth quarter, he predicted earnings of roughly $1 per share on $7.8 billion in sales–well short of the $1.23 a share on sales of $8.3 billion analysts had predicted.

Oppenheimer didn’t say much to reassure investors concerned about Jobs’ health, either. Jobs underwent surgery to treat pancreatic cancer in 2004; his gaunt appearance at Apple’s World Wide Developer’s Conference last month touched off speculation about the Apple co-founder’s health.

"Steve loves Apple," Oppenheimer said in response to a question about Jobs’ condition on a conference call with investors, adding that he had no plans to leave Apple. "Steve’s health is a private matter."

While Oppenheimer said nothing about his chief’s health, there’s little reason to take his gloomy forecast too seriously. Oppenheimer has made a habit of offering numbers that Apple can easily beat. Nor does weak guidance hint that iPhone sales could fall short since Apple spreads out recognition of revenues from the sales of new iPhones over two years.

Jobs also said in a statement that Apple is preparing to launch several new products "in the coming months." Oppenheimer reiterated that, citing an upcoming "product transition" when detailing Apple’s current quarter.

Few companies keep a secret better than Apple, so new products could include anything from a rumored tablet computer based on the touch-sensitive interface on Apple’s iPhone to a new design for Apple’s aging laptop line. One possible clue: Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook acknowledged Apple has only has three to four weeks’ inventory of Macintosh computers ready to sell–a supply that’s shy of Apple’s target of four to five weeks. Apple let supplies of its first model of the iPhone shrink to almost nothing in preparation for launching its 3G version. So Cook’s description of inventory levels could be a hint that laptop or desktop computers could be among the new stuff on the way.

Source:http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/07/21/apple-iphone-earnings-tech-enter-cx_bc_0721apple.html