Recession? What recession? In October, Apple posted its best quarterly sales figure ever with 3 million Macs out the door and 7.4 million iPhones.

With December's quarterly projections aimed squarely at 2.85 million Macs, Apple's gearing up for the holidays.

While October's iPod sales were down 16% over last year's figures and September's figures saw Mac desktop sales fall by 16% compared to 2008, Gene Munster, analyst for Piper Jaffray, is expecting an end of year spike in both categories. The month of December accounts for most Mac products sold in that quarter, and 27" quad-core iMacs are backordered several weeks.

On the cusp of Black Friday, with new Macs out on the market, it's possible that the lower September figures were customers holding out on purchasing a Mac until the latest releases hit the stores. If Apple meets these estimates, Mac sales will have grown 14% over last year.

Now just imagine what'd be happening if the tablet were dropped into the holiday mix.