by , 10:50 AM EST, January 17th, 2005

According to the New York Times, Apple has a monopoly on "cool," that intangible measure of what's "fashionable and attractive at the time." This assessment came in an article from Randall Stross that looked at the company's ability to monetize on its cool-factor, and how it has done so outside of its Mac product line with the iPod.

As a measure of this, Mr. Stross said that the next time TV Guide has a greatest commercial of all time poll, that he would be rooting for any of Apple's most recent iPod adds, instead of Apple's seminal and groundbreaking commercia, 1984.

"Their shimmying and shaking have firmly established the iPod as the icon of the dawning digital lifestyle," Mr. Stross wrote, "and sped 10 million units out the door. Without saying a word, the commercials present viewers with a choice: orgiastic boogaloo-ing with the in crowd, or standing forlornly out of the picture. And now the price of admission is just $99."

Because of its newfound cool-factor, Mr. Stross said that "Apple is well-positioned for the future." Being cool should Apple to move more computers and electronics devices into consumer hands, in part because processing power and storage have progressed so far and so fast as to make earlier contests between computer makers fairly moot.

Moreover, he closed the article with a note about Microsoft, whom he said must be envious of Apple. He wrote: "All of the billions in its corporate treasury, all of the personal billions of the co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen, all of the money in the world, cannot buy the ability to fathom the metaphysical mystery of cool."

There is much more on the subject in the full article.