iPod 'Halo' Effect, Mac Mini and More...

MacWorld reports on comments by Apple's Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer during Thursday's Goldman Sachs Technology Investment Symposium.

Oppenheimer provides some insight into Apple's recent success and products. According to the Apple executive, there is anecdotal evidence that the 'halo' effect of the iPod bringing more Mac customers does exist, but no hard numbers are available on that topic.

Oppenheimer responded to the question of licensing the Mac OS to other companies by stating they are happy with the company's rate of growth and with no plans to do such licensing. The often discussed topic had recent been raised again with news that PC manufacturers were asking Apple to let them license the Mac OS X operating system.

Other interesting tidbits included:

- Margins on the iPod Shuffle are less than the rest of their iPod models
- Margins of the Mac Mini are on par of the eMac and below their corporate average.
- Oppenheimer felt that most customers would prefer to stream content (ala AirTunes) to their home entertainment systems rather than have a dedicated media center computer.