“Apple Computer Inc. last week introduced the iPod Photo in hopes of enhancing its appeal in a computer market dominated by machines running the rival Windows operating system from Microsoft Corp.,” The Los Angeles Times reports. “Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs, with U2′s Bono, unveiled the iPod Photo last week, saying, ‘We think music plus photos is the next big thing.’ The new iPod music player also can display digital pictures on a small color screen and doesn’t cost that much less than its cheapest desktop computer.”

“‘As people become comfortable with the Apple experience’ through iPods, said Rod Bare with Morningstar in Chicago, ‘there’s some evidence that that has driven Macintosh sales.’ The iPod’s popularity is still growing three years after its release in October 2001. More than 2 million of the 6 million iPods in circulation were sold in the last quarter alone, and they’re expected to be popular gifts this Christmas. But analysts figure the real value of the iPod lies in its potential to draw customers to Apple’s more profitable, though less popular, line of Macintosh computers,” The Los Angeles Times reports.

Full article here.