Of course, it's hard to make a head-to-head comparison between iPod and Mac sales as it's comparing Apples to oranges (so to speak). If you buy a Mac and love it, chances are good you'll buy another Mac at some point in time. Ditto for the iPod. But if you buy an iPod and fall in love with it, will you instinctively consider a Mac in your next computer-buying equation? That's less certain.

A [url=http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-6138711.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-5&subj=news]CNET news analysis[/url] notes that other factors, such as lower prices and new technology, may have as much to do with Mac's resurgence fortunes as the iPod's popularity Here's how the analysis sums things up: "In 2002, the first full year Apple sold the iPod, Apple accounted for 2.23 percent of the worldwide PC market and 3.53 percent of the U.S. market, according to figures from IDC. In 2003, Apple's global share declined to 1.99 percent and its market share in the U.S. sank to 3.17 percent. A new trend emerged in 2004. Apple's worldwide market share continued to drop, hitting 1.96 percent. But in the U.S. -- the region where the iPod has been the most popular -- it rose to 3.32 percent. In 2005, the worldwide figure rose to 2.27 percent while the U.S. figure jumped to 4 percent."

Wall Street analysts at the time claimed that anecdotal evidence indicated some consumers may have been switching to Macs from other computers. Overall, as CNET notes, Apple shipped 52 percent more computers in 2005 than it did in 2002. And so far, 2006 is shaping up to be a banner year, the article adds. In the third quarter, Apple accounted for 2.79 percent of the global market and 5.71 percent of the U.S. market.

Doug Bell at IDC told CNET that the iPod boom has had "something of a halo effect, but nothing drastic." He thinks Apple's move to Intel chips and the Boot Camp has probably had as big an impact on moving the Mac.

Whatever the reason -- the "halo effect," Mactels, Boot Camp, lower prices -- for the Mac's slow turnaround in market share gains, we'll certainly take it. After all, the Mac ultimately has to succeed on its own merits regardless of the iPod's fortunes. With the product announcements we've seen in 2006 and with Leopard, iTV and who-knows-what-else coming in 2007, no one's expecting the Mac revival to stall out any time soon.

Thoughts? Write me at daseller@earthlink.net