Apple iPod Essentials   Tracking the Pulse of iPod

This was posted on the Forbes web site recently:

A comprehensive consumer survey by S.G. Cowen & Co. in June lays out a convincing case for a "halo" effect for Apple Computer's (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) Macintosh computers. The effect refers to the impact that one product, in this case the iPod, is having on sales of other products, namely Macintosh computers. Industry watchers and analysts have speculated on the effect for some time, but the Cowen survey actually attempted to document it by surveying over 1,400 people.

Of the 1,443 households surveyed, 3% owned only Macintosh computers, while 7% had both Windows PCs and Macs. But of the 36% of responders who owned digital audio players, more than half owned iPods, which runs on both Mac and Windows computers.

Of the responders who said they had decided to buy a computer in the next 18 months, 7.5% said they were planning on buying a Mac. That doesn't sound like much until you consider that Apple only has 3.3% market share in the U.S. today. If all of the buying intentions pan out, and the survey is representative of general PC buyers, Apple could conceivably double its market share in the not too distant future.

Indeed, Apple's revenue and unit shipments of Macintosh computers has been growing and seems to bear out suggestions of a halo effect. In the second fiscal quarter ended in March, Mac unit shipments grew by 43% to just over one million, and Mac revenue grew by 29% to $1.5 billion. That followed 26% revenue and unit shipment growth in the first fiscal quarter.

For some, the iPod has been their only exposure to Apple products. It appears that exposure is raising interest in other Apple gear. The survey found that overall, only 3% of people primarily using Windows definitively planned on Mac purchases. However, iPod owners with Windows computers were more than three times as likely to buy a Mac.