MAY 20, 2010 • After one week in circulation, Valve Inc.’s Steam client for the Macintosh had generated some interesting statistics. First, roughly two thirds of all Steam Mac users are running games on a laptop. Second, in just seven days more than 11% of all Steam purchases were by Mac users.

Impact: A major side benefit to the explosive growth of iPods, iPhones and now iPads over the last decade is that Windows based PC users, including gamers, are getting more and more exposed to Apple hardware products.  With the high crossover between PC gamers and iPod and iPhone users, it was only a matter of time before Apple’s MacOS would become a viable gaming platform.  With the rise in quality of the gaming experience on consoles, many former core PC gamers abandoned their chosen platform for console gaming and purchased Mac OS computers from Apple.  With Steam, many of those gamers are finding a reason to go back to the computer to play.  Valve also had a limited time giveaway of the popular Portal shooter/puzzle game for both Mac and PC Steam users that saw a huge spike in play, no doubt much of which came from Mac users.