Before the iPod/iMac, Apple didn't have that marketing engine. They didn't have that stellar reputation. They built that from nothing with a single generation of products.

Today, Apple occupies a special place in the market that very few players could approach. In 2000? That market was wide open for anybody who could get their crap together and do the same things Apple did - well-designed products with a good marketing campaign. The PC industry was only just starting to abandon the ugly beige metal boxes.

The iPod was demonstrably and objectively superior to its early competitors in an important way: you could navigate to your songs more quickly and easily.