Is the Macintosh platform still enjoying an iPhone halo effect? It's tough to say. But while Windows isn't going anywhere anytime soon, Apple has continued to gain market share on the desktop, according to CNET News.

The latest second-quarter market share numbers from Gartner show Apple PC shipments up 38 percent, to 8.5 percent of all units shipped—that's up from 6.4 percent a year ago. Another set of numbers from IDC pinned Apple's gains a bit lower, at 7.8 percent share, up from 6.2 percent a year earlier. Either way, they're well past the old 5 percent wall that Mac OS has run up against over the past 20 years.

"They've got great products and they are executing well," IDC analyst Loren Loverde said in the report. "They are benefiting from the excitement and press over their other products."