The iBook will almost certainly bring a seachange in our perception of computing. For all the analysis and pontificating about the iBook's capabilities, the primary driver of the new laptop's success will be it's unique style and the portability to put that style in the face of the public. While it embodies the same design sense as the iMac, a desktop computer's public presence is constrained by the power cord. The iBook is different, it will be a walking billboard for Apple's design flair and its instant recognition will serve to magnify its pervasiveness. They will seem to be everywhere.
Ubiquity works a strange magic upon a society.
Soon the iBook's distinctiveness will be seen with new eyes and it will begin to infiltrate markets beyond the consumer space. As the design flourish of the iMac and iBook become more pervasive in society they will most assuredly begin to turn up in offices. Small businesses at first, then mid-sized outfits until eventually even the largest corporations adopt them. Some of today's business users may feel that colorful computers aren't businesslike, but very soon they'll have to be reminded of those days when a flashy computer wasn't seemly. Fashions are like that.