The launch of the loudly-trumpeted Windows Vista and the relative market success that followed it did little, if any, damage to the sales performance of Apple computers, says a report by Apple Insider.

Apple sales are down by a mere tenth of a point, which is quite a feat considering that many analysts assumed a market storm by the new Microsoft operating system. The storm has passed and Apple still stands. The Mac's 30 percent annual growth was unaffected this year as it remained at a solid 30 percent.

Apple's computer hardware department is in the US top five of dealers, only slightly behind market leaders Dell and Hewlett-Packard. It faces some tough competition, though, as Southeast-Asian manufacturers Lenovo, Acer and Toshiba also posted strong shipment figures.

"Microsoft's official consumer launch of Vista in January, [sic] had very limited impact on overall worldwide shipment demand on a quarterly basis," says research firm Gartner.

Apple is set to release its own next-generation operating system called Mac OS X Leopard edition, which it claims is easily superior to the Windows Vista. The Leopard is slated to arrive late this year.