For as long as I can remember, the mantra has been "Apple's market share is at 5%." Today, this article at The Street reports, "Through August, Apple's share of the U.S. retail market for computers, excluding online sales, grew to 6.6% from 4.3% in the same period last year, according to market researcher NPD Group."  Furthermore, Apple's share of the digital music player market is at 74%, and that's not including sales of the iPod nano.

Before you say the iPod is solely responsible for this climb, consider this quote from a related article on Money: "...analysts also agree that Apple enjoyed high shipments of its personal computers for the quarter, benefiting from promotions tied to the back-to-school season." Apple has long been innovating with highly desirable objects, as you and I (read: the Mac faithful) have long known. It would seem the that the general public is starting to catch on. Apple's timely, steady and very patient climb was (and continues to be) strategically orchestrated by Steve Jobs. Which makes me wonder: Just what will Apple do after Steve's retirement? We all joke that Steve routinely "sees the future," but his calculated patience and foresight are very real.

For now, I'm just looking forward to Wednesday.

[Via Mr. Barrett]