Sure, it may be focusing primarily on the effect that Windows 98's release had on the personal computer market, and it may contain the classic negative spin as far as the Apple part of the news goes, but nevertheless, a CNET article notes that Apple's slice of the retail pie grew again in June. Whereas Apple captured 9% of the total retail computer sales in May, they rose slightly to 9.4% in June. It's a baby step, to be sure, but growth is growth, right?

Wrong, says analyst Stephen Baker. Predictably, he trots out the usual assertion that Apple's recent share growth is meaningless because it represents only increased business from the elimination of the Mac OS clone market last summer. But unless we missed something big, the Mac clone market (or lack thereof) hasn't changed much in the past few months. (Is there some particular reason for thinking that significantly more Mac clones were sold in May than in June?) And yet, Apple's share of the retail PC market rose slightly in June-- a month characterized by increased overall sales growth in the industry due to the Windows 98 release, as the article itself states. So in a month in which Windows 98 machines accounted for 29% of all the computers sold, and contributed to a whopping 37% increase in overall market sales, Apple's share still increased-- despite the fact that Windows 98 didn't increase Mac sales. (Not right away, at least-- although after some of the more heinous bugs surfaced, we wouldn't be surprised if Apple captured at least a few converts...)

What this all means, we assume, is that Apple's jump from 9% to 9.4% is smaller that it would have been if Windows 98 hadn't inflated the Wintel side of things, so the increase is even better news than it sounds-- not worse, as Baker and the rest of the "analysts" state. We could certainly be letting our persistently rosy view of things color our perspective; presumably the July and August numbers will show if we're way off the mark. But at this rate, if Apple's retail share hits 25% in three years' time, it seems like these same analysts will still be saying it's all just regained business from Power Computing's ex-customers. Hey, whatever gets you through the night.