David Smith of the Observer warns that the writing may be on the wall for the iPod, suggesting that ubiquity has dulled its edge. Quite possibly true, though from where I stand the world of iPod porn seems as quirky and distinct as ever. And the Blackberry - which with the launch of the Pearl seems as healthy as ever - seems to me to be a more fitting model of how a product that is just better than the rest can survive ubiquity.

Smith makes much of competition from mp3 phones and it’s a good point. But someone is going to have to figure out how to put an 80-100 gig hard drive (for the iPod, soon, surely?) in a phone before that presents a challenge to anything other than the margins. And of course there’s the interface - how to incorporate a simple but effective and slick music interface into a phone? I’d love to have one device that did both tasks well. But is that really feasible, at the level of anything other than a novelty?

All in all, yes, OK, possibly, but still - an awful lot of hyperventilation in the piece. Sales slipping? Perhaps it’s because just about everyone now owns one.