Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has really never been down for the count as a company, although it's been on hiatus a couple of times in its 30 plus year history. Never before has the company seen such product and financial success, though, than in the 2001-current period. Under current CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs, the company is a force in the entertainment business along with ramping up its fortunes in the PC business where it started. We won't even mention the hardware business (iPod, iPhone).

But the one elusive crown that Jobs would probably love to see shift to his company is the operating system used by PC customers. Now that current Macintosh computers can run Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows Vista (or XP) operating system, is Jobs slyly trying to wrestle the operating system of choice crown from his longtime competitor? After all, a Macintosh customer can switch between a full Mac OS (operating system) on his or her PC and Microsoft's Windows with a keyboard press. Use one OS for work-related things and another for -- everything else. Guess which is which? And don't think that's just what Jobs envisions when he's made every single Mac computer being sold capable of running Microsoft's Windows. Perhaps he's trying to win a long war with Microsoft on the basis of Apple's cooler-than-cool hardware rather than software?

Apple's Mac OS is stretchable across many of its devices (big and small), while Microsoft must maintain completely separate code bases and support levels for all the various operating systems it manufactures. So, the question is this: is Apple pulling a long-term end-game by trying to slowly but surely erode Microsoft's dominance in the operating system area? This is where Microsoft pulls in two-thirds of its revenue, so it's no small matter. But still, the iPhone taught the world how a hardware device with an easy-to-use operating system (yes, the Mac OS) can win the hearts and minds of consumers. Jobs would love nothing more than to continue seeing the Mac OS fall into the hands of customers on his hardware laptops and iMacs while at the same time taking incremental market share away from Microsoft in a "slowly but surely" fashion. Perhaps the real battle between Apple and Microsoft has just begun?