A quiet revolution has been taking place in homes all over. We’re abandoning our sensible desktop computers, our CD players and our chunky smartphones. We’ve fallen in love with beauty and innovation and glamour, with sun-kissed hippie tech and indulgent design.

We’ve fallen in love with Apple. And it’s mostly thanks to the ubiquitous iPod. In October 2001, as Apple’s chief executive, Steve Jobs, unveiled the very first iPod, not even he could have foreseen the runaway success it has become. Six years and 110 million iPods later, it seems you can’t walk down a street or board a train without seeing someone wearing white earphones.

The importance of the iPod is almost impossible to over-exaggerate. While initially only compatible with Apple Mac computers, a Windows-compatible version was soon launched, and Apple began to seep into the public’s conciousness. The iPod range has been updated, refreshed and improved upon with admirable regularity, culminating in this year’s biggest technology announcement: the launch of the iPhone.

Apple call it the best iPod they’ve ever made. With its intuitive touch-screen interface, the wireless-enabled iPhone also allows you to surf the net, download and listen to songs from the iTunes music store, watch videos on its widescreen display, write emails and a host of other tasks. Apple sold more than 1 million iPhones in the first 74 days of US release.

The success of its iPod range, and the iPhone, is having a positive “halo effect” on the other areas of its business too. Familiarity with these devices is giving consumers a valuable insight into the Apple brand, which is “committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings”.

Sales of Apple’s Mac computers have skyrocketed in recent years. The eye-catching designs of chief designer Jonathan Ive have transformed the image of computers from boring beige boxes to beautiful objects of lustful pleasure. And Apple’s decision to use Intel chips in their machines has also had an additional benefit: it allows Mac owners to install a Windows operating system on their Apple laptop. Suddenly, people who loved the look and feel of Apple machines, but were worried about learning to use a new operating system, or being unable to use Windows-only software on a Mac, can have the best of both worlds. While Apple denies it’s trying to poach customers from Microsoft, it accepts that the ability to dual-install operating systems is a compelling reason why more people are choosing Macs: Apple sold almost 2.2 million computers between July and September this year alone, a huge 34 per cent increase on the same period last year.

But despite everything, Apple is not without its faults. Early iPod models were beset with battery problems, which shook consumer confidence, and in the past Greenpeace has attacked Apple for its failure to use recyclable components within its devices. Steve Jobs also scored a rare own goal when he slashed the price of the iPhone in the US, just weeks after Apple fans had queued through the night to be one of the first to get their hands on the phone. He faced a customer revolt and was forced to offer a rebate to disgruntled customers.

With its eye for clever design and determination to make technology as simple as possible, Apple has won a legion of new fans lately. Whether its products are a triumph of style over substance, of hype over reality, is a debate that will continue. But one thing’s for sure: you can’t help falling in love with Apple’s products.