Forget Apple's iPod; Big Mac Is Back

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Mac is expected to be the star for Apple(AAPL Quote - Cramer on AAPL - Stock Picks) in its third-quarter report on Monday.

Strong sales of the Mac over the past three months have pushed Apple into the third position in the U.S. for the first time, behind Dell(DELL Quote - Cramer on DELL - Stock Picks) and Hewlett-Packard(HPQ Quote - Cramer on HPQ - Stock Picks), according to the research and consulting firm Gartner.

With the release of the new 3G iPhone on July 11 coming in too late for the quarter, which ended June 30, and growth in iPod sales slowing down, Apple's Mac is being counted on to save the day.

"People tend to lose focus on the Mac," says Barry Jaruzelski, vice president, strategy and innovation practice at management consulting firm Booz & Co. "The Mac has been in ascendancy and is gaining market share and going forward, more of the action is going to be around the continued revitalization of the Mac."

Apple's Halo

Apple's Mac division has being going through a resurgence in the last few quarters on the basis of what company watchers call the halo effect. The popularity of the iPod and buzz around the iPhone have influenced sales of the Mac as users of the first two devices try out the Mac.

About 46% of Apple's revenue in the second quarter came from sales of Mac computers, up 54% from a year ago.

Apple still has a small share of the U.S. PC market, with Microsoft's(MSFT Quote - Cramer on MSFT - Stock Picks) Windows OS based systems dominating the marketplace. The Mac's growing popularity, though, is a sign that Apple may be bringing in new users to its fold.

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