Suppose Steve Jobs is still losing sleep over that whole Mike Dell incident? You remember the one: back in Apple's darkest days, at some press conference, a reporter asked Mr. Dell what he'd do if he were running Apple. His response was that he'd shut down the company and give the money back to the stockholders. Well, gee, given that at the time Apple's stock was trading at around 22 and now it's hovering at just over 60, that probably wouldn't have been a wise move. But anyway, it was obvious that Dell's comment rubbed Steve the wrong way, since shortly thereafter he unveiled the new build-to-order online Apple Store-- and claimed it was better than Dell's.

The interesting thing is, in at least some ways, apparently PC Data agrees. PC Data is that industry group who keeps revealing that the iMac continues to kick butt in retail sales, but they do more than just track store purchases. According to MacCentral, they've gone ahead and ranked e-commerce web sites, and according to their list, the Apple Store beats Dell's web site by a smidge, based on the number of "unique visitors" passing through. (The AtAT staff, for instance, visits the Apple Store a lot, and since we're all unique in our own special ways, we assume we're doing our part to increase those numbers.) Dell's 1,308,000 unique visitors garnered the company the number 24 spot, while Apple's 2,323,000 let it squeak ahead to number 23. Perhaps Steve is doing a little superior dance right now.

Of course, when it comes to raw sales, Dell's still beating the pants off of Apple; only 1.2 percent of the Apple Store's visitors actually bought something, while Dell's buyer percentage is 2.1. Plus, Dell just announced better-than-expected profits, up 58 percent from the same quarter a year ago, and they sell some $30 million worth of equipment a day online. (And unlike Apple, when Dell beats the Street, its stock goes up.) So Steve's got a lot of work to do if he's really serious about beating Dell; unique visitors and days of inventory aren't the only measures of comparative success. But it's not a bad start.