Apple, as our sister site MSPmentor has noted, is ramping up its efforts to cater to the SMB market. But now the mainstream media is taking notice, too. Here's where Steve Jobs is heading next in the small business market.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple has posted job listing for Apple engineers. The job openings are for roughly a dozen new Apple stores to focus specifically on building and offering solutions for the small business. What's more, WSJ reports that Apple employees 'familiar with the strategy' are looking to pay up to $80,000 for this positions. What's more, Apple is looking to more appropriately leverage their Xserve and Mac Pro line.

The Wall Street Journal sees this as Apple looking to compete with HP and Dell in the SMB arena, but this blogger sees it more as Apple coming into its own and finally having a comprehensive portfolio of solutions for SMBs.

Lastly, Apple has built special conference rooms in the newest of retail stores to provide a meeting environments for business executives and Apple sales persons to talk about potential solutions.

We'll be watching to see if the new Apple Store SMB moves will impact Apple's channel partner.