No iPod? No iTunes, no iPhone, no App Store and -- I believe -- no Apple.

What would the world look like then? Imagine listening to music on your Creative Labs Windows Music Player 7.0 and paying $2.99 a download to the Sony-Warner-Universal Connect Music Store. The industry would still be talking about getting TV shows on a portable player, once they finally hammered out all the DRM and licensing issues. That smartphone in your pocket would be either a BlackBerry or -- Lord help us -- . It would not be pretty.

Ironically, the iPod as we knew it then is essentially dead. Devices that simply play music and videos are like toasters or clock radios. From here on out, the gadgets we carry will all run apps, play games, and let us surf or work from wherever we are -- whether they're phones or not. You can thank Apple for that, too.

Today people waiting for what's coming next. New York Times executive editor Bill Keller makes an offhand reference to an "" in a speech to his staff, and that's all it takes to get the blogosphere rolling on yet another series of .

You could argue the genesis of the Apple Mystique started with the Newton, or even the original Mac, but I'd disagree. The Newton was a beloved but deeply flawed product that failed in the marketplace. The Mac was barely clinging to the 3 percent of the market that wore ponytails and worked in graphic design. It was the iPod that made it all happen.