What a difference (nearly) ten years makes -- a report released today by Needham & Company reviews the remarkable growth and "halo effect" of the Apple Retail Store strategy and how it continues to push awareness and acceptance of the Mac platform into the mainstream, even as other products have taken more of the spotlight. The store strategy, almost universally criticized when it began, has also been shown to have a huge impact in the rising importance of non-US sales and acceptance of the Mac.
