iPod Impact

A look at the performance of the top 20 consumer electronics stocks shows just how far the iPod apparently pulled Apple Computer away from the pack. Apple registered a 201 percent appreciation in share price in 2004, on top of a 49 percent appreciation in 2003. (Microsoft’s stock was flat in both years.) Sales of 4.6 million iPods during the last three months of 2004 helped drive Apple to $3.5 billion in quarterly revenue – the highest ever recorded by the company.