Apple announced its fiscal fourth quarter earnings yesterday. Perhaps the highlight of Apple's results are the iPhone sales figures. Apple moved 6.9 million of them in the fourth quarter alone, bringing the total number of iPhones sold to just under 13 million. Apple CEO Steve Jobs made sure to mention that the iPhone 3G outsold all RIM devices in the same quarter.The numbers are certainly impressive, and should scare the heck out of any company that manufactures mobile phones. Quarterly iPhone units sold were 6,892,000 compared to 1,119,000 in the year-ago-quarter. The 3G iPhone's lower price point and wider availability worldwide probably has a lot to do with its surge in sales. The iPhone is currently for sale in more than 50 countries.

"Apple just reported one of the best quarters in its history, with a spectacular performance by the iPhone -- we sold more phones than RIM," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We don't yet know how this economic downturn will affect Apple. But we're armed with the strongest product line in our history, the most talented employees and the best customers in our industry. And $25 billion of cash safely in the bank with zero debt."

According to Apple, RIM sold 6.1 million devices compared to its 6.9 million. In terms of revenue, iPhone sales make Apple the third largest handset provider in the world, behind only Nokia and Samsung. It is now ahead of Motorola, LG, Sony Ericsson, HTC and others when it comes to making money by selling mobile phones.

Apple also said that by today, users have downloaded 200 million applications from the iPhone Apps Store. This shows a clear demand for content that can be consumed on mobile phones.

With the Android Market and RIM Application Center raring up to compete, the amount of content is set to explode.

The question is, can Google and RIM take down the champ?