But now I find myself almost angry that Dell, IBM, Compaq, HP, et. al. can't even come close to what Apple is doing. Today I got the latest issue of Fast Company and inserted in it was a poster-sized ad for the new Apple G4 Cube. It's killer looking. I'm serious when I say I almost decided at that exact moment to rush out and buy one for my daughter. I can just see how cool it will look on her desk and how it blows away any beige or black box computer or laptop I've ever seen.

OK, am I asking for too much? Is Dell's bone they threw me by adding optional cover colors enough? No! In fact, they are missing the point.

The new Apple iMac models come in Ruby, Indigo, Sage, Graphite and Snow. iMac DV, iMac DV+ and iMac DV Special Edition have superfast FireWire built-in, so you can easily connect to high-speed devices like digital camcorders and external disk drives.

Sure, Apple started by changing the colors of their systems to neons, earth tones and now translucent and clear, but that isn't it. There is more to it than that. Apple is changing the way we feel about computers. They are injecting emotion into what we see now as a box full of software and making it something we want to keep out on display - no matter our décor or style.

Dell is simply adding color.

OK, that's step one, so they only have three years of catching up to do.

I think it's going to happen, and the ones that do it first, win. Come on, don't believe me? Maybe the only reason you haven't thought of it that way is that it hasn't been anything but the way it is up until now.

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Think of the way you buy a car? Sure, the color is a key component, but it isn't THE component. A red Yugo is still a Yugo. You pick your car based on what you can afford, first, and then how cool (or cute - depending on you) you think it looks. If it's ugly, it either grows on you and you soon think it is cool or you always think it's ugly. Remember the new Honda Prelude body style change of 4-years ago? How about the way Ford changed the Taurus? It was such a disastrous move that they slipped out of number one and down to number three almost immediately. Not by accident.

You don't use your emotions to buy technology today, as the choices today don't require them. In many cases, there are no choices. It's what it is.

Still don't buy it? OK, look at the Apple G4 below. If you still don't see the appeal - you ARE a geek!

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Gary Kayye is Principal of Kayye Consulting, a firm that specializes in providing marketing consulting, telephony integration and training development to the professional audiovisual industry. He spent 12 years at Extron and AMX as VP of Sales and Marketing before founding his own firm. He can be reached at www.kayye.com or via e-mail at gkayye@kayye.com. He is also the chairman of the PETC - Professional Education and Training Committee of ICIA. He also founded KNews.