Apple Computer Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) will have a stellar December quarter as long as it delivers the goods. But there's a lot of demand ($700 million worth) to be met. Apple faces a good news, bad news scenario if it's going to reclaim past glory in its fiscal first quarter. The good news: folks can't get enough of Apple's new products. The bad news: Apple had a lot of trouble getting them the goods in the September quarter. Apple beat reduced estimates Wednesday. Oh sure we can blame Motorola (NYSE: MOT) for the shortage of G4 chips, but that's old news. The supply and demand imbalance is still there and Apple has to dig itself out. The end result? Apple has an order backlog of more than $700 million and channel inventory is dangerously low. Apple CFO Fred Anderson called the backlog "extremely large." That statement is putting it mildly. Demand is only good if a company can meet it and Apple's September quarter suffered because it couldn't.