Apple Crushes Windows by More Than 4 to 1?

As personal computer shipments decline in the United States, Apple's greatly increase.

The increase is so great, in fact, that it suggests that Apple

is actually growing the market beyond the presumed reach of the business. According to

, Gartner

– an information technology research and advisory company – has released a new report detailing the success of Apple and the decline of the good-old-fashioned PC. Gartner states that PC shipments dropped 6% in the fourth quarter. Apple, meanwhile, experienced a shipment increase of 21%. On a percentage basis, the Mac maker is giving Microsoft a run for its money. This is yet another sign of the changing times. Whereas people once cringed at the thought of paying too much for a new computer, they are slowly becoming more willing to pay a premium for what they believe to be a premium product. Going forward, Apple has a distinct advantage with its newer MacBook Air platform, especially now that Intel

is so determined to compete with its own line of extra-thin laptops. What Intel does not realize, however, is that instead of selling a superior (or at least competitive) product, ultrabooks are quickly becoming a great marketing tool for Apple. When consumers see one, what do they think? What thought instantly comes to mind? Is it something positive regarding the PC manufacturer? Or is their natural reaction along the lines of, “Dude, that looks like a MacBook Air”? Apple gains a similar reaction every time someone looks at a non-Apple tablet. The iPad didn't come first, but it effectively pushed the idea and acceptability of tablets. And since

insists on copying Apple's design (Sony

excluded), consumers continue to view the tablet market as Apple's market. Now PC manufacturers are allowing the same thing to occur with the MacBook Air. In this case, Apple did get there first. It attempted the Air format several years ago with a weak, overpriced machine that used a traditional hard drive (the solid state memory was optional and very expensive). Though it took a couple of years, Apple learned from its lesson, made several improvements, and re-launched the Air as the perfect replacement to the traditional white MacBook. It's sad – downright tearful, actually – that competing tech companies didn't jump at the opportunity to compete sooner. The current Air format was introduced in the fall of 2010. It took Intel, Microsoft, and their PC manufacturers almost a full year to respond. Oh, sure, Intel knows how to talk the talk, bragging that it will pay $300 million to acquire a

. But when push comes to shove, Intel is likely to fail. While the chipmaker could feasibly produce technology that every company wants – including Apple – it seems more likely that Intel will be unable to power a competitive ultrabook. And even if it could, something tells me that the Air's overall design will still be better. To be clear, I do not believe that Apple is the best computer manufacturer in the world. I'm not sure that any single company has earned the title of “best.” But when Apple leads in a particular area – either by entering the market with a brilliant smartphone or by shaking things up with a new MP3 player – the company is able to maintain that lead with a relatively small amount of effort. In theory, this should open the door for a host of competitors to leap ahead with a vastly superior product. But history has taught us that Apple's competitors are typically clueless. Long-term, Samsung might be the

that can compete with Apple. Thus, the ultrabook business model is destined to fail. They might one day replace traditional laptops (as they should), but by producing a series Air clones instead of something original, PC manufacturers have set themselves up for failure.