Since the release of the iPhone (possibly before)
Definitely before. It’s the iPod itself that was the turning point from the indie technology “Think Different” to the position of having “ipod headphones = sheeple” anti-iPod ads you got in the early/mid 00s.
Here’s how I see it. Apple made the transition successful by remaining very consistent with their own entirely separate message - despite how the fans might mediate it in arguments with the technical nay-sayers - of simplicity, ease of use, and plain niceness. It’s elitism of aesthetics - and this elitism does the heavy lifting in both stories wrt Apple.
The “Halo effect” is talked about because the success in one market (ipods in the digital music player market) operating under the latter mode is (said to be) bleeding into the (less spectacular) success of the desktop/laptop operating under the former, concurrently. So not only can they make the transition - they are able to get these stories told at the same time - because they themselves don’t tell that story.
