Apple, Inc. (AAPL) may be in the midst of a PR crisis with its newest iPhone, but that doesn't mean the company isn't stronger as it's ever been. The company's release of the iPhone 4 makes that device quite possibly the fastest-selling in the company's history. Every time Apple thinks it cannot outperform itself, it does. Still, will this euphoria be short-lived? If so, one company will reap the benefits: Google.

Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), the consumer electronics manufacturer with unmatched style, was just accused of being a lame monopolist. Why? For ensuring the operating system software it makes only runs on personal computers it manufactures itself. Oh, the horror!

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.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s newest Macintosh operating system -- Leopard -- will officially go on sale October 26 (just under two weeks from today). Unlike Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Apple releases new operating systems every year to two years. By contrast, the time difference between the release of Microsoft's Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems was over five years.

That being said, so Mac users flock to upgrade every time a new operating system comes out? Hard to say, but every Apple fan I know borders on zealot (this is not a bad thing), and they do indeed upgrade every time something new comes out. I sense in many cases this is nothing more than psychological pride over genuine utility addition, but I could be mistaken.

Will Leopard's release bode well for Apple's coffers, then? Sure, but the question of how much is still up for debate. Apple's iPod phenomenon -- and now, iPhone phenomenon -- has translated into a growing market share for Apple PCs, and this "halo effect" has been tracked and followed with journalistic vigor in every nook and cranny of the media and blogosphere. What more could yet another upgrade add to this honey pot?

Apple's shares are sitting at an all-time high at the moment due to the perfectly-timed release of new iPods in September, along with the growing market for the revolutionary (yet already outdated in many ways) iPhone. Adding new eye candy to Apple's PC market will do nothing but help bump the company's stock price to over $200 if holiday sell-through does well. Perhaps the iPod was just a means to get customers flocking to Apple's PC segment, since in the long term, the iPod's remarkable sales sustainability can't keep up the torrid pace it has in the past -- or can it? Regardless, the company wants customers buying new PCs to think "Mac" instead of "Windows," and a newer version that looks and feels better than the last will only help that effort.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) -- strange bedfellows or enemies? The iPod and the Zune, the Mac OS and Windows. Is Microsoft really helping Apple selling Macs?

Well, not entirely. According to The Wall Street Journal, the ability of the new Intel Corp.- (NASDAQ:INTC) powered Macs to run Windows is winning fans [subscription required] with consumers, schools and small businesses. As the paper writes, "support for Windows on Apple hardware looks to be playing a key role in persuading some users to switch to Macs."

Apple really doesn't need the help. In the latest reported quarter, Mac sales rose 40% to $2.4 billion. Sales of portable Macs rose 79% to $1.455 billion.

The knock against the Mac at most companies is that its OS does not play nicely with Windows. No longer. Now, Apple computers run the stuff. Apple's marketing strength, however, remains directed at the consumer, due, in part, to the success of the iPod and the upcoming launch of the iPhone.

Perhaps Apple will actually put some sales effort against enterprise sales of the Mac. That could make things interesting for companies like Hewlett-Packard Co.(NYSE:HPQ).

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Today, Apple (NAS: AAPL) throws some hype fuel on the fire with the new teaser appearing on their website...

...and the hype machine moves forward. Marketers and business folks take note: This isn't a case of over-promise and under-deliver as is so common in the consumer electronics industry, it's genuine excitement about a company that has a track record of rolling out products that consumers buy and apparently enjoy.

Much could be said of Apple, and the tenure of notoriously low-key CEO, Steve Jobs. Look at the massive success of the iPod, the transition to Intel-based computers, not to mention the original and subsequent iMacs. Oh yeah, and there's that little black mark dotting the headlines as of late, you know, the whole improper options granting thing.

Among all the headlines, two things are certain with the house that Jobs built: Secrecy and hype. Virtually every product launch since the iPod has a massive amount of hype surrounding every event, with Appleheads spreading rumor after rumor, and Photoshopped picture after picture, and with next week's Macworld, this event is no different.

What would happen to the arguably most iconic and hip consumer products company if the charismatic and intricate design aficionado Steve Jobs stepped down as CEO of Apple Computer? With longtime nemesis Bill Gates announcing last week that he'll be stepping down from day-to-day operations at Microsoft in 2008, that leaves the door open for Jobs to do the same -- if he's ready. Our friends over at TUAW have noodled on this question, so let's examine from a business standpoint and weave in the philosophy of Jobs.

Both in their 50s, Jobs and Gates have one of the most unique and fiercely competitive rivalries in business history. While Gates chose to license his company's flagship computer operating system over 20 years ago, Jobs has been incredibly determined to keep control over the Apple universe for as long as he's been leading the company which he co-founded. Both approaches, by any measure, have been successful, although Microsoft gets more attention. Or is that Apple?

Over the last five years or so, both companies have been in the spotlight many times, with Apple creeping past Microsoft with the company-making iPod line of digital everything players. Sure, we could talk about the computer lines, but what's in the mind of most consumers right now is the iPod, which defines Apple to the market at large. The MacIntosh operating system is a superior product, but that plays second fiddle to the iPod's success at the moment.