I noticed this piece from the UK the other day about the resurgence of vendors such as Sony Ericsson in the face of the iPod's recent 100 millionth shipment milestone - in fact, it really wasn't until Apple put iTunes on Windows that the iPod became a real phenom... in light of all that, is the upcoming iPhone more of a defensive competitive maneuver than offensive innovation for Apple? Here's the excerpt:

Apple was celebrating last week as it marked the sale of its 100 millionth iPod - a landmark, the company claimed, that makes it the fastest-selling music player in history.

I don't think any of us could ever have dreamt that we could come this far this fast, said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice-president of hardware marketing.

It's hard to quibble. Five-and-a-half years after the introduction of the first model, the iPod has entered into the annals of business history, while simultaneously becoming a design and fashion icon.

In November 2001, Apple was a $5 billion (£2.5 billion) a year company with a great past but uncertain future at the periphery of the computer industry.

This year, the company is on course to rack up revenues of $23 billion, with more than half of that coming from iPods and the sale of songs from the iTunes music store.

Symbolically, it recently dropped the word Computer from its name, becoming simply Apple Inc.

Millions of happy iPod users have been tempted to seek out the same style and ease-of-use in Apple's Macintosh computers, which are now selling in greater numbers than ever before. (read more)