PCWorld has published the "Winners and Losers 2005", an article written by Dan Tynan, in which "one observer's completely unscientific and highly opinionated picks for the biggest winners and losers of the year in technology" are revealed to the world.

Apple is mentioned three times through out the article:

"WINNER: Apple Computer: Apple started the year with the Mac Mini, a pint-size $499 Macintosh sans monitor, and ended it with the long-awaited video-enabled IPod. In between, Apple announced it would start using Intel chips in its new line of Macs. The first Intel-based Macs should debut at around the same time as Windows Vista, which could lead to the first serious OS competition since, oh, 1989. All in all, a very good year in Apple-achia."

Apple has stated that the new 'Intel Inside' Macs will be available by June 2006. If all the buzz that is going around the Internet is to be believed, they might even become available after the Macworld Expo in January. Amitabh Shrivastava, corporate vice president of the Windows core operating system development division, announced that the final release of Vista will be made available just in time for the 2006 holiday season and not sooner. Now, let's see... before June and just in time for the holiday season... a four month difference at the very least... hardly around the same time.

"LOSER: Apple Computer: For a company that turned rumor wrangling into an art form, Apple proved mighty touchy when rumor sites revealed information about the Mac Mini and other products weeks before the company's official announcements. Touchy enough, in fact, to sic their legal beagles upon them. In one case, a California judge ruled the sites could not protect the anonymity of their sources (that ruling is currently under appeal). Apparently, the sites broke St. Steven of Jobs' 10th Commandment: Thou shalt not release information without prior approval. The result? Apple still doesn't have the information it sought, but did get a ton of bad PR."

Strange how Apple is the bad guy for trying to find out which employee, that had signed a confidentiality contract, leaked the information. The focus of Apple's action has never been the sites that published the information, but the people who disclosed it in the first place. What company would not do the same?

"WINNER: Apple iTunes: Kudos go to Apple and ITunes for holding fast to a $1-per-song pricing scheme (for now at least) in the face of extreme pressure from the record labels, as well as for convincing Hollywood to allow its video content to be downloaded (for $2 per show). Since the announcement in October, more than 3 million videos had been sold at press time, proving that people will pay for media online if it's fairly priced and easy to get. Let's just hope downloaders aren't watching them while driving."

The iTunes-iPod dynamic duo continue their glorious march to every home and pocket. The video capable iPod has been a roaring success and has sparked the change in paradigm regarding downloadable video content. Do not forget that Apple has never called the product a 'video iPod' marketing it as a 'iPod that can play video'. The difference is subtle, but there.