Apple turned in results for the December 2009 quarter, the company's first fiscal quarter, that shatter analysts estimates - the company turned in US$15.68 billion in revenue, with profits of $3.38 billion ($3.67 EPS). Those results compare to revenue of $11.88 billion and a net quarterly profit of $2.26 billion ($2.50 EPS) in the year-ago quarter.

Analysts had been expecting a profit of $2.06 EPS on revenue of only $12.05 billion.

"If you annualize our quarterly revenue, it's surprising that Apple is now a $50+ billion company," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement. He also alluded to the media event his company will hold on January 27th by saying, "The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we're really excited about."

The company announced it sold some 3.36 million Macs during the quarter, representing a 33% increase over the year-ago quarter, a new record. Apple also sold 8.7 million iPhones, representing 100% year-over-year unit growth, while iPods clocked in at 21 million units, only an 8% decline over the prior year.

The company said its overall gross margins were at 40.9%, much higher than expected. International sales accounted for 58% of the Apple's revenue, also higher than normal.

Apple offered guidance of $11 to $11.4 billion in revenue for the March quarter, a number that should resonate with investors and analysts, as well. The company is offering guidance of earnings per share of $2.06 to $2.18, a number ahead of what had been expected for the December quarter.

Company CFO Peter Oppenheimer said that Apple generated $5.8 billion in cash during the quarter, as well, meaning the company has close to $40 billion in cash holdings on hand.

Apple will host a conference call with analysts at 2:00 PM PST (5:00 PM EST), and The Mac Observer will cover the earnings announcement and the conference call with analysts as news develops.

[Update: The article has been updated with additional information. - Editor]

*In the interest of full disclosure, the author holds a small share in AAPL stock that was not an influence in the creation of this article.