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Apple Computer moves to center stage this week as the tech world shifts its attention from the desert to San Francisco for answers to two big questions: Will Apple introduce its first bargain computer - and a cheap iPod?
At the just-ended Consumer Electronics Show here, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Dell Computer and others touted their vision for driving digital entertainment into the living room. Apple was a no-show. It holds court at its own event - Macworld - which begins in San Francisco Tuesday.
Apple won't comment. But according to the buzz among tech analysts and a host of Internet Apple-watcher sites, Apple plans to announce under-$200 iPods that store songs on internal flash memory, like those used in digital cameras, instead of on a hard drive. The iPod now starts at $249.
A bare bones $499 Mac computer - sans monitor - would be Apple's first entry into the budget camp. Should Apple go through with the move, it would make it competitive with entry-level Windows machines.
A low-cost computer "could be a play for all those new Windows iPod users, who just started using Apple products," says Jason Snell, editorial director of Macworld magazine. "Maybe they resisted before because Apple computers were more expensive. Now Apple would have a story for them. If even a sliver of them bought a new Mac computer, the dynamics could really change."
Apple has a 3.5% share of the U.S. computer market. Its market cap is $27 billion, compared with No. 1 PC-maker Dell's $100 billion.
But Apple has been on a tear, transforming itself into a digital entertainment company fueled by sales of the ultra-hot iPod. In the last two quarters, iPod sales jumped from 860,000 units to 2 million. Gene Munster, an analyst with securities firm Piper Jaffray, predicts iPod sales for the holiday quarter could hit nearly 5 million.
Apple stock has tripled from a year ago, when it was trading at around $22 a share. It closed Friday at $69.25, up $4.70.
Munster says lower-priced iPods and an economy Mac could double Apple's sales. The company sells around 8 million computers a year; a $500 Mac could add 5 million or 6 million to that, he says.
At CES last week, Munster surveyed the array of heavily promoted new iPod rivals from Creative Technology, Rio Audio, RCA, Panasonic and others.
"There was no iPod killer," he says. "Nothing that could take on Apple in terms of price or ease of use."
At the just-ended Consumer Electronics Show here, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Dell Computer and others touted their vision for driving digital entertainment into the living room. Apple was a no-show. It holds court at its own event - Macworld - which begins in San Francisco Tuesday.
Apple won't comment. But according to the buzz among tech analysts and a host of Internet Apple-watcher sites, Apple plans to announce under-$200 iPods that store songs on internal flash memory, like those used in digital cameras, instead of on a hard drive. The iPod now starts at $249.
A bare bones $499 Mac computer - sans monitor - would be Apple's first entry into the budget camp. Should Apple go through with the move, it would make it competitive with entry-level Windows machines.
A low-cost computer "could be a play for all those new Windows iPod users, who just started using Apple products," says Jason Snell, editorial director of Macworld magazine. "Maybe they resisted before because Apple computers were more expensive. Now Apple would have a story for them. If even a sliver of them bought a new Mac computer, the dynamics could really change."
Apple has a 3.5% share of the U.S. computer market. Its market cap is $27 billion, compared with No. 1 PC-maker Dell's $100 billion.
But Apple has been on a tear, transforming itself into a digital entertainment company fueled by sales of the ultra-hot iPod. In the last two quarters, iPod sales jumped from 860,000 units to 2 million. Gene Munster, an analyst with securities firm Piper Jaffray, predicts iPod sales for the holiday quarter could hit nearly 5 million.
Apple stock has tripled from a year ago, when it was trading at around $22 a share. It closed Friday at $69.25, up $4.70.
Munster says lower-priced iPods and an economy Mac could double Apple's sales. The company sells around 8 million computers a year; a $500 Mac could add 5 million or 6 million to that, he says.
At CES last week, Munster surveyed the array of heavily promoted new iPod rivals from Creative Technology, Rio Audio, RCA, Panasonic and others.
"There was no iPod killer," he says. "Nothing that could take on Apple in terms of price or ease of use."
(I never thought Id say that), as for the the new Ipod, I dont like it, there is no screen 
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