Apple's widespread marketing campaigns have led to the iPods' reputation as an easy-to-use, stylish device and dominance among the MP3 market.  Due to such popularity a large market is dedicated specifically to iPod accessories.

When Apple first introduced the iMac, the "i" stood for Internet, meaning that the iMac shipped with everything needed for a connection. The "i" also stood for "individual" and "independence" — as well as other words that complemented Apple's "Think Different" Campaign launched in conjunction with the first iMac, but the prefix stuck, as the brand recognition associated with it has positive effects on the sales of Apple products. Recently, some media have started referring to the generation primarily born in the late 1980s, and which in particular has made the iPod popular, as the iGeneration, suggesting that the "i" family of products may have a far-reaching cultural impact.

In 2002, Apple released the second-generation iPod in two versions, one for Mac users and one for Windows users. As of October 2004, iPod dominated digital music player sales in the United States, with over 90% of the market for hard-drive-based players and over 70% of the market for all types of players. The iPod has sold at a tremendous rate, now past 42 million units since its release. Apple and several industry analysts have posited that the iPod has a "halo effect", encouraging users of non-Apple products to switch to other Apple products, such as to Macintosh computers.

Apple has promoted the iPod and iTunes brands in several successful advertising campaigns, a large number of which are part of their series of

1. silhouette commercials.

The first iPod ad, featuring the tagline "A thousand songs, in your pocket" was launched alongside iPod in November 2001. The ad can be viewed on Apple's web site. [55]

In April 2003, Apple introduced a new ad campaign in conjunction with the launch of the iTunes Music Store. The ads featured informally dressed persons wearing iPods and giving animated silent renditions of popular songs, accompanied by dancing, air guitar, and other performances. The commercials featured a wide range of music, including The Who's My Generation, Sir Mix-a-lot's Baby Got Back, Pink's There You Go, and Eminem's Lose Yourself.

In October 2003, Apple released their first TV commercial of the silhouette campaign, which had already been featured for some time in print. It featured silhouettes dancing to music while listening to iPods. These commercials featured popular songs, such as The Vines' Ride, The Caesars' Jerk it Out, Gorillaz' Feel Good Inc., Steriogram's Walkie-Talkie Man, Jet's Are You Gonna Be My Girl, Propellerheads' Take California, Ozomatli's Saturday Night, N.E.R.D.'s Rock Star (Jason Nevin's Mix), Franz Ferdinand's Take Me Out, Daft Punk's Technologic, and many more. To commemorate the launch of the U2 iPod, Apple released an ad featuring a music video of Vertigo (featuring the band as characteristic iPod silhouettes). [56]

The iPod shuffle was released alongside TV commercials featuring silhouettes dancing on a green background with Apple's shuffle symbol moving underneath them, showing their intent on incorporating their silhouette campaign with each of their products.

With the release of iPod with Video, a new commercial was released showing the new iPod's video playing capabilities. The ad featured U2's Original of the Species from the Vertigo: Live From Chicago DVD. Two more ads were released featuring Eminem and Wynton Marsalis. Although the ad still featured the silhouettes, Apple changed the background to an orange 'urban' theme in the Eminem version, and a 'cool' blue jazz look to the Wynton Marsalis variant.

On March 17, 2006, Apple released another new iPod ad. This ad departed from the traditional silhouette style, and featured thousands of CD covers pouring into an iPod nano. The ad again uses the tagline "1,000 Songs in Your Pocket," in reference to the original iPod launch ads. This commercial features the song "Cubicle" by the French electro rock band