hey Bart great article, would just like to point out that that scene with Gates was featured in the beggining and end of the film pirates of Silicon valley, well worth watching

Also, just to take up Des's point on the i-macs; my secondary schools upgraded from apple lisa's to all i-macs in 2000, that was about 20-25 computers so perhaps he has a point there.

As for losing the creative production market, i can't argue that they are no longer clear victors in that field but they have retained there reputation of excellence in the field of digital editing in both publishing and visual editing. I believe there was a large drop in mac sales for the purpose of audio production last year but from what i see they haven't lost the market necessarily, they just aren't the main player and this is usually only a plus for the consumer

Oh and one point you failed to touch on; Apple's brand as there lead asset. Since then there has been the release of the i-pod which is a product that is marketed heavily using the reputation of the apple brand name, had anyone else have released the device would it have been as successful? Now this year they have announced the i-phone, the [i-]tv and a huge expansion of i-tunes. All of these products take instant credibility with the brand name they inherit by its reputation for quality and ability to make new ideas successful first time round