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Apple has defied financial outlooks with their second fiscal quarter revenue postings, reporting $8.16 billion in sales and a $1.21 billion net profit; or earnings per share of $1.33. These results compare favorably to what analysts predicted would amount to $7.96 billion revenue, and last year’s second quarter revenue of $7.51 billion, with a profit of $1.05 billion ($1.16 per share).

The Cupertino-based company has blown analysts’ sales trajectories out of the water, moving 3.79 million iPhones (490,000 more than anticipated) and 11.01 million iPods (1.01 million more than forecasted). Mac computer sales, however, were in line with expectations, shipping 2.22 million systems. Although sales would have obviously been better without the economy in spoils, Apple is proudly labeling this their strongest non-holiday quarter in their company’s history.

AT&T is also feeling the bliss of the iPhone’s 123% growth since last year, activating more than 7.1 million since the second half of 2008, a sizable portion of which were new customers. It could be argued that the iPhone is AT&T’s cornerstone, preventing it from further revenue collapses, and it is now more clear than ever why they’re pushing for a fresh exclusivity contract.