Okay, we've made our peace with it: yes, Apple now has a separately-branded online iPod Store. Yes, it really does make the Mac look like a second-class afterthought. Yes, even the "vanilla" Apple Store gives more and better screen real estate just to the iPod Photo than to all Macs combined, and when taken together, all iPod models score twice as much "shelf space" as the Macs do. Heck, even in the text links in the sidebar, even the iPod accessories are listed before the Macintosh gets a mention. And yet, somehow, that's okay.

First off, let us just say that we're well aware that a certain militant Mac subculture views the iPod as little more than a monumental distraction to Apple's God-given task of creating the best personal computers on this or any other plane of existence; if the company hadn't been tinkering around with shiny little music doohickeys, they say, we'd all be using Tiger now instead of waiting until the "first half of 2005." Heck, consider how much has happened music-wise in just three years since the iPod was first announced: four complete generations of iPods, more than two full revisions of iTunes to support them, the introduction of the iPod mini and the iPod Photo, the debut of the iTunes Music Store, its continuous improvement and expansion into twelve other countries, the advent of AirTunes and AirPort Express... geez, given how much development has obviously been sunk into the iPod and its related technologies, forget about Tiger-- we'd probably be done with Lynx, Leopard, and Cougar and three point release updates into Mac OS X Ocelot by now, running on dual-processor PowerBook G5s. Or so they say.

Even the not-so-militant have to wonder if Apple's newfound love affair with music comes at some slight expense of the Macintosh platform. You don't have to be clinically paranoid to see the changes in the way Apple presents itself to notice that it's playing up its public identity as "the iPod company" while de-emphasizing the Mac side of things. After all, when was the last time you saw a Mac commercial on TV? The iMac G5 even looks like an iPod, which was clearly intentional, as Apple highlights that point every chance it gets. But like we said, aside from a little twinge of perfectly understandable knee-jerk paranoia, we're fine with it.

The trick is trusting that Apple isn't slowly phasing out the Mac to focus exclusively on iPods and similar consumer electronic appliances (a scenario which is becoming ever less ludicrous as the iPod accounts for a larger and larger chunk of Apple's revenue), but rather wielding the iPod's popularity like a mad ape swings a tire iron... while it can. Steve Jobs is no fool; he knows that the public has a short memory and nothing stays on top forever. (Remember the original iMac Fever? Exactly.) But while the iPod is such a ubiquitous social phenomenon, why not milk it for all it's worth? Build Apple's brand even bigger, expand the company's user base beyond those same 25ish million Mac users that keep coming back for more, get them hooked on Apple instead of merely the Mac? Sell Macs to iPod customers as well as iPods to Mac customers and keep them on the hook for whatever the next big thing turns out to be?

The best way to do that is to pump up the brand with a solid market winner. Most people may know what a Mac is, but not all of them think it's the best computer available. (Heathens, mostly. And blind people with brain damage. But still.) In contrast, everybody knows what an iPod is, and they all know it's the top dog, to boot. And when non-Mac users visit Apple's web site, they're looking for iPods; the company may as well make them as easy as possible for people to find. And buy. And get hooked on.

So, no, we don't think that Apple is phasing out the Mac to focus on iPods and related products; it's just a matter of what image is best for the company right now... and what's best for Apple is also what's best for the Macintosh. For now, at least. Of course, that doesn't mean we don't still get the occasional panic attack, but hey, it keeps us young.