Mac Mojo Bolsters Apple

"Clearly more and more people are adopting Apple's operating system," says Jim Grossman, an equity analyst with Thrivent Asset Management, which holds Apple shares. "People have started to see the advantage of a tightly integrated system. They're changing their mind and buying Macs."

It's an evolution that takes time, Grossman pointed out. People don't buy new laptops at the same pace they replace cell phones, for instance. "It's a commitment that's pretty big.

"We expect them to continue this solid share gain. This strategy is coming to fruition now and I think we're going to see more of it next quarter, and for that matter, 2007," Grossman says.

Credit Suisse's Robert Semple agreed: Apple's "relatively low market share of 2.7% (in PCs) leaves substantially more head room than its dominant, but lower margin, iPod business." His firm does and seeks to do business with the companies it covers.

Perhaps overshadowed, but certainly not forgotten, was the robust growth in iPod sales, which surpassed analysts' informal consensus estimates.

"I was genuinely surprised at the 8.7 [million] number on the iPod side," Grossman says. "There was kind of a buzz on Wall Street that iPod numbers were going to be low."

The company issued lighter guidance, as is its custom. For its first quarter, Apple forecast a profit of 70 cents to 73 cents a share on sales ranging from $6 billion to $6.2 billion. Analysts had higher hopes, estimating 77 cents a share on revenue of $6.4 million.