The New York Times > Technology > New Economy: Observers Wonder If Apple Plans Low-Cost Macintosh

The New York Times > Technology > New Economy: Observers Wonder If Apple Plans Low-Cost Macintosh: "If Mr. Jobs is now actually preparing to plunge into the Best Buy and Circuit City world of razor-thin consumer electronics margins, he would finally be paying heed to the industry pundits who have repeatedly claimed during the seven years since he returned to run Apple Computer that the company was doomed by its higher-priced computers.
The reasoning goes as follows: Having tricked the computer industry into believing that Apple was on the verge of becoming a digital music company on the strength of its wildly popular iPod music player, Mr. Jobs will suddenly reverse ground and begin selling a new iPod peripheral - a cheap Mac desktop - to the legions of PC owners who have eagerly purchased iPods but so far have failed to switch to the more costly Mac computer world.
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So if Steve Jobs is really thinking differently on Jan. 11, it would make more sense that, instead of cost-cutting, he is counting on his proven ability to create new markets seemingly from whole cloth.
Having successfully connected the music world and the computer worlds with the iPod, Mr. Jobs may have his sights on extending Apple in other new directions - perhaps a high-priced set-top box - rather than looking backwards. He has worked his magic in Hollywood before and would have the credibility to strike an alliance that might permit Apple to deliver movies and video to some sort of elegant digital home server."

If nothing else, you have to admire Apple's ability to orchestrate the press...