CIO — On Monday, Apple announced $1.67 billion quarterly profit on record Mac and iPhone sales. How does Apple keep shining?

Apple's rosy quarterly earnings come during one of the worst economic environments in recent history. Apple's pricey Macbooks face fierce competition from cheap netbooks, even in Apple's core education market. And the storied iPhone has watched serious competitors line up against it, such as Android handsets.

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One of the keys to Apple's success is its global branding and demand for its products. "A surprise was their strengths in shipments volume outside of the U.S., especially mobile PC growth in Europe," says Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa. In the Asia-Pacific market, Mac sales increased 42 percent from the year-ago quarter. Overall, Mac sales continue to outpace the growth of the PC market.

Regarding the iPhone, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster wrote in a research note that worldwide demand for the iPhone 3GS is outstripping supply. "While supply constraint is a issue near-term, we see it as a long term positive, as worldwide demand appears to be very strong for the iPhone 3GS," he wrote. Global demand for the iPhone is poised to skyrocket, as the iPhone makes its official debut in China this month.

You'd think Apple's high prices for Macbooks would be a turn-off in this economy, coupled by the emergence of cheap netbooks offering a viable alternative. Apple, however, has been able to insulate itself somewhat from the economy's major impact. While PC sales have taken a beating in the U.S. professional market, Kitagawa says, "Apple was not affected by weakness due to their limited presence."

Anecdotal evidence suggests netbooks have taken a bite out of Apple's core education market, but again Apple has made moves to check its impact. Sales to U.S. schools rose 12 percent to mark Apple's highest quarterly sales in the education market, which "seemed to be boosted by the Main deal," Kitagawa says. Apple sent 50,000 Macbooks to Main as part of the ongoing 1-to-1 Learning initiative.

"We do not have enough research results to say if the overall U.S. education market was strong or if it was Apple-specific at this stage," Kitagawa says. "Also, it is too early to conclude if education institutions were hesitating to adopt netbooks even though hardware prices were very attractive."