A poll conducted by iTWire over 24 hours had 202 respondents to the question: Will your next PC be an Intel Mac? 100 said yes and 102 said no. Although this was just a straw poll, it indicates that Apple looks set to capture a fair share of the new PCs market and may be able to compete head to head with the established Wintel players.

If Apple succeeds, it will once again establish itself as more than just a consumer electronics player selling cool little knick knacks like iPod.

With the ability to dual boot Windows and a number of retailers already pre-loading Windows on the new Intel Macs, PC buyers at the premium end of the market will almost certainly take a look at Macs as an option. Buyers at the next level down may also be tempted to move up a grade. A dual boot Mac and Windows machine could also be a hit with families.

Whatever the reason, the Apple look likes it may succeed in confounding a few market pundits in the coming quarter which had previously written it off as a serious computer player. If Apple brings out a mobile phone iPod device anytime soon, this could be a new watershed year for the company, which is rapidly re-establishing itself as a consumer IT innovator.{moscomment}

Tags See All Tags

Apple