The massively hyped iPhone. The updated iMac. Now anoverhauled iPod range. My, my, Apple, but you have been busy...

Let's face it: very few companies are able to polarisepopular opinion quite like Apple. It's about more than just being different -in fact the company's famous Mac v PC ad sums it up perfectly.

Mac users see themselves just like the 'Mac guy' - they seethemselves as outside of the norm: they're cool, laid back and creative. Ofcourse, PC users point out that those are the exact reasons why most seriousbusinesses use PCs, not Macs. And for good measure, they add that if it was aschool playground, the Mac user would be about to get a kick in the shins for being asmug so-and-so.

But alas for all you Apple-haters, the Mac guy has everyreason to be smug. For the company has had a very, very good year indeed.

Tedious tech

Look around the world of consumer technology and there'svery little going on in 2007 that truly sets the pulse racing. The tusslebetween Blu-ray and HD DVD has become pretty tedious, thanks largely to alousy selection of decent hardware. The games console war will stay inlimbo until we start seeing titles that do the platforms justice. And don't evenget me started on Wireless N.

The recent IFA 2007 show in Berlin was "all about high-def", accordingto a colleague. That's pretty slim pickings. In fact, I knew things weredesperate when a press release during IFA proudly boasted of a new satnavdevice's widescreen display. How did we ever survive without it?

And yet while everyone else flounders around, seemingly blindedin the headlights of their own self-publicity, Apple's new arrivals haveprovided real innovation in a market that desperately needs it.

The iPhone was expected to be the product launch of 2007,and so it has turned out. Real innovation is about products that change themarket they're launched into, that give us that "I've got one, have you?" satisfaction.And this is exactly what the iPhone has done. After all, how many people weretalking about touchscreen phones before the iPhone came along?

But that's just the start. Apple's turnaround in the lastdecade is unquestionably thanks to the iPod, and this month's new arrivals -including the exciting iPod touch - show that Apple hasn't lost its touch in this highly competitive area.

Magic MacIntel

The company's foundations, however, were built on computing,and it's here that Apple has impressed me most in 2007. Before the Intelera, Macs were largely exempt from like-for-like comparison. This was probablya good thing as for the most part we suspected they were rather pricey for what you were getting, but couldn't reallyprove it.

Now, the Intel-powered MacBook range and the stunning new iMacs go toe-to-toe withtheir rivals on the spec sheet, and have added a new factor too: true value formoney. Learning a new OS may still be a leap manyconsumers are unwilling to make, but even that's not a problem any more thanks to the latesteverything-works-on-everything-else culture.

So what's Apple's secret? To me, it's simple. It's aboutgiving people products they actually like owning.

It's time companies realised that charging hundreds ofpounds for bits of mass-produced plastic that are difficult to use and looklike they belong in the props department of a bad sci-fi flick simply isn'tgood enough. No matter how many megapixels, gigabytes, or HDMI ports the thing has. And Apple is helping to teach them that lesson.

So go ahead, Apple fans. Enjoy it.