According to analysts, the combined increase in the sales of the iPhone, Mac, and this-month-launched iPad will help Apple post strong figures for the quarter, even though the downward trend of overall iPod sales will likely continue.

Analysts are of the opinion that Apple’s popular iPhone is strongly positioned to benefit from the continuing growth in the smartphone market, and will contribute substantially to the company’s quarterly earnings – to be reported on April 20 –, as will the strong initial sales of the iPad.

With reports that the iPad sold over 500,000 units during the first week of its April 3 launch, Apple CEO Steve Jobs also mentioned at the company’s April 8 news conference at its Cupertino, California, headquarters, that as many as 600,000 iBooks and 3.5 million iPad applications had been downloaded since the tablet’s launch.

Further, going by an April 14-dated research note by Bernstein Research analyst A. M. (Toni) Sacconaghi, the quarterly net shipments of the iPhone and the Macs will likely be 7.3 million and 3.1 million units respectively.

Sacconaghi wrote: “While several opportunities exist (including iPad sales, gaming revenues, enhanced Apple TV), we believe that the biggest opportunities remain centered around further penetration of the iPhone, including broadening distribution to other carriers and a lower priced, non-data plan iPhone offering.”