Apple Computer just wrapped up another Macworld, and, as usual, the technology world paid a seemingly inordinate amount of attention to a company that has a relatively small percentage of the worldwide PC installed base. Why? Because while Apple may not dominate sales charts the way Microsoft or Sony does, the influence of its offerings and strategic direction are tremendous to both the PC and consumer electronics industries.

It is interesting to note, that while there were no major Mac OS X (Apple's PC and server operating system, built on a UNIX foundation and fleshed out with open source components and Apple technology) announcements, the operating system continues to gain traction. The company reports there are now over 9 million users. That's not a lot in terms of all Windows users, but significant when compared to Windows XP, UNIX, and Linux desktops. The key is that this stable and well-received OS is the foundation for the company's growing family of software and its newly energized hardware offerings.

So, let's rundown the best in show.

Adding to the consumer software line

At the show, the iLife bundle received the most attention. iTunes, Apple's well known app for playing, managing, ripping, and buying digital music, did not receive an update, but the release of the Windows version and a subsequent update late last year has kept the application in top form. The company's other consumer apps, iMovie for video editing, iDVD for DVD authoring, and iPhoto for digital image management, manipulation, and sharing, all received updates.

Most notable, though, was a brand new offering called GarageBand. It is designed to help music lovers create music from software instruments, prerecorded audio loops, and their own real world efforts. While other companies have passed over audio to focus on video, Apple has not. The company is creating a new killer consumer app -- the PageMaker of music creation. It's a tool for everyone with interest in music that will have an impact far beyond previous efforts by other vendors.

Mac fanatics and pundits debated the most heated aspect of iLife -- its $49 price tag. Many hoped Apple would make its apps available for free. In line with Apple's previous consumer app policy, all new Mac purchases will get the suite for free. But it appears that current users will have to pay to get at least some of the new apps (as they had already done to get major updates of iDVD). Since iLife will not be released until the 16th of this month, final availability and pricing is still unclear.

Pushing the music envelope

Discussions about GarageBand segue nicely into the other music-related announcements Apple made about iTunes and the iTunes Music Store. Apple reported that the Store had sold over 30 million digital downloads since its launch last April. In addition, Apple reaffirmed its deal with Pepsi-Cola North America to offer U.S. consumers 100 million free tunes in a Pepsi drink promotion starting after the Super Bowl on February 1.

And today, Apple and Hewlett-Packard announced a new partnership. HP will resell the iPod music player and provide iTunes Windows software -- and therefore links to the iTunes Music Store -- on HP's consumer desktop and notebook PCs this summer.

This is a big deal.

By this summer, iTunes will come equipped on all new Macs as well as all new consumer HP PCs. When you add on the fact that Apple had already cemented a deal with America Online to provide hooks from AOL into the iTunes Music Store and that Pepsi will be promoting the Store with its products (the chances are reportedly 1-in-3 of winning on each marked bottle, so the math works out to 300 million bottles of Pepsi products sporting iTunes advertising as well as related TV, radio, and in-store advertising), Apple's digital music initiative will have a HUGE 2004.

Servers for the enterprise and supercomputers

At the show, Apple also announced February availability of G5 (the IBM designed and manufactured chip at the heart of high-end Macs) servers. They will come in three flavors, including a stripped down model designed for clusters. If you pay attention to supercomputing news, you'll know that Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech) recently was awarded the No. 3 spot in the world for supercomputing with its system of 1,100 interconnected desktop, G5-based Macs. The new cluster-ready server will be a perfect choice for those wishing to recreate that supercomputer in a smaller space, using even better hardware (the new servers have special error-correcting memory that can catch data errors, a feature the Virginia Tech Macs do not have).

Related to this, Apple announced a test version of software called Xgrid, designed to let organizations automatically link Mac systems -- notebooks, desktops, and servers -- into a large cluster. While it won't create a supercomputer on the fly (it lacks things like the high-speed connectivity hardware required to make a supercomputer), it can be used to shorten the time to do certain jobs like sifting through massive genomic databases or render complex video images.

What it means

For those who follow Apple, we seem to have ignored on of the most publicized announcements -- the introduction of smaller iPods. But from New Rowley's standpoint, that was the least interesting of what came from the show.

As usual, Apple may not have invented all the technologies and ideas it showcased, but the company managed to wrap them up in easy-to-use and visually appealing software, hardware, and service packages that makes them more acceptable to their relevant audiences than previous offerings.

We expect GarageBand to be a major hit for Apple, driving increased consumer interest -- and thus purchasing -- of Macs.

We think Apple's digital music initiative will have a tremendous 2004, cementing its industry lead despite the arrival of numerous competitors like Sony, Wal-Mart, and Dell.

And less visible to the public, but very important to Apple's bottom line, we expect the combination of a solid Mac operating system, excellent desktops and servers based off the G5 chip, and free software offerings like Xgrid and Xcode (Apple development tools) to lead to increased adoption of the Mac platform in critical industries and user segments, such as the life sciences, government agencies like NASA, and the hard-core, Linux-loving computing crowd. And importantly, this is on top of other gains Apple has been making in other specialized areas like video and film editing.

For a company that just a few years ago seemed to be losing major, public battles on every front, as well as the overall relevancy war, Apple now has the best and most diverse product offering in its history.

Finally, what's a take on Apple without mentioning arch rival Microsoft? Miles away from Macworld, at the Consumer Electronics Show, Bill Gates was touting the latest in Microsoft consumer offerings and ideas -- from portable video players to enhancements for MSN to computing watches -- that sounded boring or irrelevant in comparison. OK, the $6 billion Microsoft will spend on R&D this year isn't boring or irrelevant, but Microsoft's current consumer products and vision sure seems so.