Last year, I wrote about Microsoft’s 30th anniversary – this time round it’s Apple.

Until recently just a niche player in the personal computer marketplace, the company founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak (Woz) is doing better now than ever – and that’s nothing to do with the Macintosh PC line but with the company’s allegedly monopolistic online music sales tactics. According to Associated Press, Jobs is the “marketing whiz” behind the company (his return to the CEO spot a few years back certainly marked a turning point in the company’s fortunes) and Wozniak the “engineering genius” (I’ve heard Woz on TWiT – he sure loves his technology). Time will tell where Apple’s business model goes as a result of current court action but if Microsoft’s anything to go by, it won’t make too much difference.

Apple products are different – different because they look good. Why can’t all PCs look as good as a Mac Mini or a Power Mac? I’m one of the people who would pay a premium for a Macintosh – I really fancy a Mac Mini (if I can hook it up to a standard TV as my 32″ Sony Trinitron will probably outlive any affordable flat panel that I could buy today) and I reckon it might pass the wife approval factor (WAF) test for a position in the living room (my “black loud crap” has long since been confined to my den). I’m also a heathen because I would (at least try to) run Windows XP Media Center Edition and SUSE Linux on it… let’s just hope the current rumours of Windows running on a Mac turn out to be true!

Apple might not have achieved mass market domination in the PC world, but they sure have things sorted (at least for now) with digital media. Happy birthday Apple.