Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has always catered to hip, independent consumers looking for edgy gadgets. Just look at the Mac vs. PC ads that pit a young, artsy consumer against a stodgy, businesslike Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) advocate.

But at the end of May, that paradigm was turned on its head. After nearly a decade of growth, where Apple redefined portable computing devices in the way Microsoft did for home computers fifteen years before, Apple overtook Microsoft as the most valuable technology company in the world – thanks in large part to emerging corporate sales.

Since then corporate Apple sales have only picked up. That’s thanks to Apple’s dominance in the mobile market with the iPhone and now the iPad tablet. As the New York Times put it in May, “Consumer tastes have overtaken the needs of businesses as the leading force shaping technology.” It only makes sense then that AAPL is now taking over the Microsoft-dominated corporate computing world.

Further proof comes from a ChangeWave survey conducted just last week, where

1,601 respondents involved with IT spending in their organization gave their opinions on corporate spending. Figures show a small downward move in Apple spending – but a long-term trend of significant growth with more than 1 in 10 firms choosing Apple laptops for their next purchase.

Offices across the country are following consumer trends and are finding their computing needs met by Apple Inc. made hardware and software. A new report from Needham & Company analyst Charlie Wolf published this past Monday noted a dramatic increase in Mac sales to corporate customers in the second quarter of 2010. Apple’s business market grew +49.8% over the same period in 2009, with shipments of Mac computers to large companies increasing by +103%. While the consumer market is still Apple’s bread and butter — home computer sales accounted for over 61% of Mac sales during the quarter — Apple hardware’s growing presence in the corporate world will only increase the company’s value, pleasing Apple shareholders everywhere.

Mac sales are just part of the expansive corporate sales landscape, though. Tuesday’s report from the Wall Street Journal that the iPad is already overtaking mini-PCs as the mobile computing device of choice for enterprises looking for cheap (at least, cheaper) technology that provides robust internet and email access on the go. While manufacturers like Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) have enjoyed office space dominance over the past five years. Thanks to a number of business friendly features the iPad offers in addition to the now familiar suite of Apple iOS applications, mini-PCs are falling out of favor with employees.

That familiarity with the iOS mobile operating system is due to the proliferation of the iPhone in the consumer space, but Apple’s smartphone is also seeing rapid growth in corporate environments. While enterprises may not be adopting the iPhone at the same rate as the iPad and Mac desktop computers, a June report from Forrester Research found that 29% of businesses now use a model of the cellphone, a 17% increase over 2009. Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) and its line of BlackBerry phones still represent nearly 70% of corporate smartphone support, but as Apple begins to offer the iPhone through multiple mobile phone service providers as they are expected to in 2011, the significant growth they’ve seen in the past year will increase exponentially.

While it’s too soon to say that the Cupertino, California company’s products are going to replace Microsoft’s in every enterprise in America, it’s going to become increasingly common to see employees using their products.

As of this writing, Anthony Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.

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