The history of Apple Computer can be told through its advertisements as well as its products. There was, of course, the commercial that introduced the Macintosh. It was broadcast exactly once, during the 1984 Super Bowl, and signaled the company's bid to reclaim leadership in personal computers from I.B.M. and its tiny, little-known software partner, Microsoft.
Late last month, Steven P. Jobs, Apple's chairman, rented an ornate theater here to promote Apple's latest advertisement for its iPod music player - a crisp psychedelic montage of the Irish pop band U2 playing "Vertigo," a song from its next album. Unlike the 1984 commercial, this one is intended to help Apple preserve a big, and growing, lead in the marketplace.
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