Apple's PCs take over the #3 spot in U.S. sales

Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is a juggernaut that just won't stop being successful. Although sales of its iPod digital music players have waned a bit in recent memory, the company is selling boatloads of its newer iPhone 3G, which are also iPods in case you have forgotten. But one area that just won't get as much mainstream press is the incredible success Apple is having getting more customers to buy its computers.

Apple moved into the third spot in the U.S. in PC sales recently -- overtaking Taiwan's Acer -- and now is the world's sixth-largest seller of computers in addition to the third place ranking in the U.S. For Apple to make these kinds of strides among the commodity companies that all pretty much sell the same product with Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows Vista operating system is quite the achievement. And remember, on all those new Apple machines comes Microsoft's main consumer nemesis -- the Apple Mac operating system (also enjoying leaps in market share).

If Apple CEO Steve Jobs planned on the iPod and iPhone causing so much market stir that it would actually lead to more Mac PC sales, he was right. Apple has never had the market share it has now and it's done nothing but grow for over a year now. IDC analyst Loren Loverde told CNET, "They've got great products and they are executing well ... they are benefiting from the excitement and press over their other products." That quote describes the halo effect Apple continues to have right now which is benefiting more areas of its business than just the iPod/iPhone universe. Jobs:1, Microsoft:0. For now, at least.