Apple bounces back with new look

New packages look promising.

Apple seems to be making a comeback at last with a range of new Imacs that make the average PC look antique. The design made the cover of Time magazine, a free puff on a scale not seen since Windows 95 scooped front-page reviews in the national papers.

There is little in the package that cannot be done on a PC, and Personal Computer World readers will know that Apple is not alone in having achieved a stylish makeover of a system box. But you would hardly have thought so, watching Apple chairman and star salesman Steve Jobs launch what is a very astutely designed package.

Jobs even managed to survive a bad case of Murphy's Law, rider 232, which states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong when demonstrating to the press. Only a twitching of his lips betrayed his discomfort when, after a spiel on the Imac's absolute plug and play reliability, a link-up with Apple's Ipod music player failed to work.

His claim that with the Imac, Apple has invented the future, was also over the top. Its 15in LCD screen should help speed the demise of the old CRT monitor, but this was already beginning to look dated. And Microsoft is plugging the tablet format which may supersede the tethered desktop (see www.pcw.vnu.co.uk/News/1127763) - although perhaps not within the product life of the Imac.

Mac fans will claim, loudly, that Apple never went away, although it went through some hard times as Windows began to match, and out-match, the famous Mac ease-of-use. Apple's renaissance began a couple of years ago with the first bubble Imacs, which allowed Apple to compete with entry-level PC prices.

The new design is more expensive but sexier, and there are reasons for thinking this is a more promising time for Apple.