The craze that people have for products released by Apple is truly phenomenal. Ever since the Macintosh was first released in the early 1980s, there has been a mad rush to be one of the first people to possess the latest product from the Apple stables. The craze is of course understandable given the impeccable track record that Apple has. Every product release has been quite a sensation and Apple has delivered users’ expectations every single time. Beginning with the Macintosh, and the new transparent body design of their other products, to all their latest products with the name beginning with an “i”, like the iMac, the iPod, the iPad and the iPhone, the company has brought about a series of winners which have totally revolutionised the way we use personal electronic gadgets.

All of Apple’s gadget wizardry has been focussed on changing the way we use electronic products. These products have literally become a part of our lives now. There is hardly anyone in the developed world that can manage to live without an iPod, once they have got used to it. The products are so intuitive that we unconsciously begin to start relying on them for our day to day activities. These gadgets are taking over our lives so succinctly that we are not even aware of it. Products that were never heard of just a few years ago have now become indispensable in our lives today.

One of the greatest forces behind Apple’s successful line of products is its founder Steve Jobs. Job’s second tenure as head of the company he co-founded with Steve Wosniak has been even more successful than his first. He would never have imagined that his come back would give rise to a string of such successful products and re-establish the company once again as the leader in computers and consumer electronic products.

One of the down sides of having such great products is that Apple needs to make them a little more expensive than other products in the same genre. Everyone agrees to the fact that Apple creates the best products in its class and the cost of the products is justified. But unfortunately, not everyone has the money to buy and enjoy this fine line-up of products. Especially with the current recession, many people do not have the funds to spend on luxury electronic items. Therefore, they relinquish their desire to own these products, thinking that there is no way that they could ever get to enjoy them.

But did you know that you can get an iPod without having to pay any money for it. Yes, you can get a brand new iPod completely free of cost with no strings attached. The suggestion might sound too good to be true. But nevertheless, it is a real fact that iPods are being given away for free by some companies, and a lucky few have been able to get their hands on them.

It might be a little hard for you to believe this. After all, with the proliferation of email spam and all kinds of scams doing the rounds on the Internet, this could also be another one of those scams, right? But no, there are a few genuine companies that really give away costly electronic products as part of their marketing initiatives.

But why would someone want to give away a product for free with no obligations attached. If they are ready to give away a product as good as the Apple iPod, why would they not want something in return? After all, there are no free lunches in this world, are they?

These are some legitimate questions, and need to be answered correctly. It is true that a number of offers that claim to give away free iPods are most often scams. But we will concentrate on the genuine offers and see why they make such offers in the first place. Once you understand the workings of these offers, it would begin to make sense.

First of all, the genuine offers are most often made by market savvy companies or marketing agencies that wish to acquire new customers for their business. It is common knowledge that every company makes money through its customer base. The more customers a company has, the more profit it can make in its business. So in order to raise its profits, every company has got to increase its volume of customers. One of the ways it can acquire new customers is by giving away products for free and attracting their attention.

Internet savvy marketers have come to know that a customer’s personal particulars are much more valuable than their money. It might sound counterintuitive at first, but this logic really makes sense. For instance, if a customer comes in and makes a purchase and goes away without giving his or her particulars, there is no way the business can contact them for selling another product, unless they come back on their own initiative. But on the other hand, if they leave their contact particulars with the company, the business can contact send them through emails or brochures whenever there is a new product release and expect business from the customer. So a customer’s contact details are much more valuable than their money obtained through a single sale.

And in order to obtain that all-important contact information, some companies are willing to offer a free iPod as an incentive. Now who wouldn’t want to get a free iPod by giving away their email or contact address. Of course, there is always the possibility that the company would send emails and mails by post with new product offers or discount offers. But that is probably a small price to pay for the benefit of getting as good a product as an iPod for free.

Moreover, if a company could afford to give away free iPods to a number of customers, it must surely be an established company with some repute. Such companies would be more responsible with the way they use the contact particulars that they obtain by giving away free offers. Small, fly by night operators would not be able to provide offers such as these, since the costs involved would be too great for them to make the venture profitable.

There is a second type of “free” offer, where the company would provide an iPod for free when you participate in any one of the trial offers that they provide. The trial offer might cost you a small amount such as $10 or more, but as you can see, that is a very insignificant amount when compared to the price of an iPod. Moreover, you are not giving away the $10 but getting a trial offer in return which would again have a value of its own. So in essence, you would be getting two products for a tiny