After a long period of relative silence concerning the Mac, this week was full of news. Apple announced a special event next week to give us a peek behind the curtain on Mac OS X 10.7 (presumably called “Lion”). Furthermore, people who keep track of statistics like how many computers are out there are reporting that the Mac has now jumped to over 10% market share.

I have always felt that the market share statistics underreport Apple’s actual market penetration. Big companies and enterprise purchasers (who buy computers by the truckload), almost never purchase Apple products. As a result, the total market share is always skewed against Apple. For a better idea of Apple’s market penetration, walk in to your local Starbucks or Peet’s Coffee and look around. In Orange County, California, usually about half of the computers are Macs.

My point is, that while Apple has been pre-occupied with its mobile market share land grab over the past few years, that is okay. Mac users have been quietly using a very stable platform and getting work done. Although my appreciation for the iPad seems to only increase with time, I still get a lot of work done on my Mac. While Apple’s focus may be coming back to the Mac, for most users, we never left.