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People laugh when Erik Jenkevice tells them how many IT staff Cineflix International employs to manage more than 300 computers at its Montreal headquarters and Toronto offices.

"I say, one here, one there," says Mr. Jenkevice, the entertainment programming company's director of operations. "We run Macs and we don't need many people in IT. In fact, they have more problems fixing printers and peripherals than the computers themselves."

More surprisingly, though, is that Cineflix, which distributes over 500 hours of programming to 150 broadcasters worldwide, runs its business operations on Macs and edits on PCs, counter to popular logic that holds Apple is strong in education, science and creative endeavours such as graphic and music and video editing, but not business applications.

"We have 300 or so Macs for day-to-day business functions," he says. "We like that they're problem free and though you do have to worry about viruses, it's a lot easier to manage."

The change in perception reflects the changes in PC market share. Market research firm Gartner Group reported recently that Apple sits in third spot with an 8.1-per-cent market share in combined desktop and mobile sales in North America — up from 6.2 per cent in 2006 — behind Dell (32 per cent) and Hewlett-Packard (23.1 per cent). In worldwide sales, however, HP is the leader with an 18.8-per-cent share.

Despite being a distant third, what's attracting attention is Apple's 37-per-cent increase in computers shipped over the same quarter a year ago. Apple appears to be seeing the impact of what's called the "halo effect" — as more consumers buy (and appreciate) things like iPods and the iPhone, they're more inclined to look seriously at a Mac.

And the company is poised to improve on those gains. Friday, Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., launches its new operating system, called Leopard, which at $129 (U.S.) costs half of what Microsoft's top-of-the-line version of Vista costs. Also, the company is promising upgrades to the operating system at a much faster pace than Microsoft.

All that momentum, Mac evangelists say, translates into gains in business users.

"Macs are for people who appreciate the finer things, like a Mercedes," laughs Alykhan "A.J." Jetha, CEO of Marketcircle, a Markham, Ont., software business. "For small businesses of one to 15 people, Macs are a better solution — even for those up to 100 people. You don't worry as much about viruses, about patches and you don't run around reinstalling the operating system."

Traditionally, Macs have not had an easy time competing in the corporate world, in part because of a perception they are more expensive and offer fewer software choices than Windows-based PCs. However, that's an argument supporters aren't buying.

"When you compare apples to apples, or feature to feature, the pricing is very close," Mr. Jetha says. "Over the life cycle of the machine, Macs last longer and require less maintenance. So they cost less."

Mr. Jenkevice agrees: "We run those suckers into the ground, they last forever. We've still got some old Clamshell iBooks and PowerBook G3s we upgraded and gave to the interns."

Increasingly, businesses are willing to dish out more for a Mac, and not just because of their reputation for being reliable. Apple's machines continue to set the standard for style and flare and business users are just as keen as graphic designers to look cool, says Daniel Reio, marketing manager for computer reseller CDW Canada.

"People want them in their reception areas or executives want them as a status symbol," he says. "Once they convince their IT department to support Macs, everyone wants one."

The Mac resurgence is spilling into the software side as well, says Scott Michaels, vice-president of client services at Vancouver's Atimi Software, which "ports" — or translates — Windows programs to work on Macs. Demand for its services has made it one of the British Columbia's fastest growing companies.

"We're seeing many more business applications coming in [to be translated] than ever before," Mr. Michaels says.

In addition to business applications such as accessing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) databases, he says, there's growing demand in the health care field.

But sometimes, it just comes down to die-hard loyalties: "I grew up on Macs," says James Dale whose six-person landscape architecture company Earth Inc. runs exclusively on Macs. "Mac people love their machines like a buddy. They worship them. PC people don't get that."

Apple has added or polished some 300 features to the new version of its Mac OSX operating system, called Leopard. Some highlights:

• Stacks: Cuts desktop clutter by organizing recent downloads and files into a fan or a grid, which gives users faster access to folders of files.
• iChat: Users can create custom video backdrops so it appears they are chatting live from remote or exotic locations.
• Time Machine: Automated hourly backup that remembers how your system looked on any given day and lets users revisit their Mac as it appeared in the past to find long-lost files.
• Cover Flow: Lets users see a large preview of document, picture and movie files — not just icons — and flip through them like iTunes' album browser.
• Back to My Mac: Remote access function when you're on the road.