Is Intel hopping back to the head of the pack when it comes to retail marketshare? It has -- because in June Intel leaped ahead of AMD in the retail space with 51.2% marketshare. While this is by no means a huge lead over uber-competitor AMD, Intel's gain may give it the boost it needs to regain a long-term retail advantage over the scrappier and arguably more advanced competition from longtime nemesis AMD.

The reason for much of the retail sales gain, though, probably did not excite Intel all that much, as lower-price notebook computers with Intel's Celeron-M chip -- which retail for under $600 in many cases -- were the growth engine for Intel's lead gain. With Intel still trailing AMD in the lower-price desktop computer market, it does have a long way to go to ensure it takes marketshare from its rival where and when appropriate. I'm not sure Intel wants to take too much marketshare in lower-margin businesses, but it can afford to do that to prop its shares and prove to the investment community and the news media that it knows how to come back and win against the compeition.