was it, though? I mean, none of the apple hardware is amazing, and today, it's not even really different, but... the software mostly works, and for computers? that's amazing.

I remember in the mid aughts, when I had been working exclusively with linux for some time, I started to see my peers, peers who wouldn't be caught dead with a windows laptop, carrying around os-x laptops.

Compared to the ThinkPad of the day, the macbooks were terrible pieces of hardware; they were obviously designed by people who believed in style over substance, and their keyboard was mush. But... OS-X? OS-X mostly worked, something that could not be said for windows or linux laptops, not without a whole lot of effort.

Pretty much all of Apple's hardware is amazing. If you try and evaluate them on specs alone then sure, they fall short - less RAM in their phones, slower clock speeds, whatever - but the vast majority of people don't buy hardware because of its technical specs, they buy hardware because it looks gorgeous, makes them feel special, and performs the tasks they need it to perform. Nobody ever lined up for a week to buy a ThinkPad.

The key part phrase there is "[c]ompared to the ThinkPad of the day". IMHO, MacBooks and ThinkPads were nowhere near comparable in build quality until the the MacBooks went to unibody aluminum construction.

and they were only comparable then because lenovo seems bent on cheapening the ThinkPad.

I would say that it pretty clear the iPod completely turned Apple around, but importantly it was the excellent execution in the social space, on the software front and follow through with the iPhone (new hardware), this is a rare event and is what differentiates the Apple of that time from other companies which have had a breakthrough product.

Actually the first thing Jobs did upon his return was to cut the product line and focus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GMQhOm-Dqo

I'd say Apple turned around by moving into media distribution rather than hardware. The iTunes and App stores are massive revenue generators for Apple.

Apple was already doing well before the iPod with iTunes and later the iPhone and app store came along.

The turn around happened before.