Apple continues to grow even in the context of Windows Vista. The availability of Microsoft's latest Windows operating system at the end of January 2007 managed to only superficially impact Apple Mac sales. In fact, the consumer market seems to be increasingly focused on Apple's Macs in the detriment of Windows PCs. According to data released by research firm The NPD Group, Mac sales are outperforming PCs sales, despite the fact that Windows Vista should contribute to boost the adoption of new machines.

The NPD Group reported that the Cupertino-based company jumped from a market share of 12.5% in April to 14.3% in May. In this regard, Apple has become the number four laptop manufacturer behind HP, Toshiba, and Gateway. "Everybody's notebook business grew last month," stated Stephen Baker, NPD's VP of industry analysis. "But Apple's grew a little faster than the market overall."

But Apple is not out pacing its rivals only in the notebook business. The Cupertino-based company is also managing quite well in desktop sales. "Desktops sales are declining, but Apple's are declining a little less than others," Baker added. Apple increased its desktop sales from a share of 10.2% in April to 10.4% the past month.

But as far as laptop sales are concerned, while Windows-based notebooks jumped by 37%, Apple experienced a 65% increase. And this growth comes as Apple does not have a fresh release of its line of Mac OS X operating systems to rival Windows Vista. In fact, Apple's Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard has been postponed until October 2007. However, this aspect failed to impact the adoption of Mac computers pre-loaded with Mac OS X Tiger.

Market Share by Net Applications revealed that at the end of May 2007, Windows Vista accounted for 3.74% of the operating system market, while Mac OS had 3.95% and MacIntel 2.51%. It is clear that although Microsoft touted approximately 40 million sold Vista licenses in the first 100 days, the operating system is not pushing PC sales at the same rate.