When can sales be booming but financial outlook sliding? The answer is when you're Apple and the iPhone G3 is your brainchild.

This week the company reported stellar iPhone sales and a better-than-expected profit margin through its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings. So what's the problem? Though profitable, investors are quick to note that the company's revenue for the most recent period fell shy of expectations. Worse still is that Apple's own forecast for the upcoming holiday sales period was modest at best and recent updates to the iPod line have had little effect in lifting slumping sales of the music player.

Given the reluctance of investors it's no surprise that Apple's stock has fallen to the tune of being down 54 percent for the year. While the iPod may be fizzling out, the iPhone has done its best to keep Apple cruising. In a rare trend, iPhone sales fell short of Wall Street's expectations, even as profit beat estimates.