Apple sold 1.61 million Macs during its 2006 fourth fiscal quarter, breaking its previous quarterly record of 1.38 million Macs sold, in the first fiscal quarter of 2000. The company sold 8.72 million iPods during the fourth quarter. That represents 30% growth in Mac sales and 35% growth in iPod sales over the same period last year. (The company's fourth-quarter financial release could be restated, however, due to an internal investigation involving stock options grants).

Apple is also winning new users. In a Webcast detailing the quarter's financial results, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer noted that over 50% of customers buying Macs at Apple's retail stores were new to the platform.

Apple's only real strength in the business world is in graphics and publishing. But Robert Irlbeck, president of Evolution Networks, a systems integration and software development company based in Oakland, Calif., says he sees Apple making gains in other areas, particularly among "alpha geeks": Senior IT pros who have gravitated to the Mac because of its Unix foundation.