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For the love of iPod

Leslie Katz Former Culture Editor
Leslie Katz led a team that explored the intersection of tech and culture, plus all manner of awe-inspiring science, from space to AI and archaeology. When she's not smithing words, she's probably playing online word games, tending to her garden or referring to herself in the third person.
Credentials
  • Third place film critic, 2021 LA Press Club National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards
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Leslie Katz
Is the love of the iPod so intoxicating that it can sway PC users to ditch their desktops for Macs? If you believe a new survey by Morgan Stanley, it is.

Thanks to the phenomenal success of its digital-music player, Apple could soon control 5 percent of the desktop computer market, says Morgan Stanley, which polled 400 iPod users and found that 19 percent expect to convert from PC to Macintosh.

The implication appears to be that iPod owners' positive brand association with Apple will spill over to the desktop realm. Which got us wondering: How many iPod-carrying PC-using CNET News.com readers would consider making the big shift?

Statistics released by other analysts suggest the iPod may already be having a healthy effect on Apple's desktop business. According to figures from IDC this month, Apple's desktop market share in the United States was 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2004, up from 2.2 percent the previous quarter and 2.1 percent for the fourth quarter of 2003.

It's too early, however, to tell how the Mac Mini will impact Apple's position.