Only because the view on the subject alludes to the pc market in 2000s. Back then Apple PCs were not considered fashionable, but usable. However, much of the techis and geeks shyed away from them because the general opinion was that those computers were for people who does not understand computers . So the obvious choice was linux onto which most of the techis flocked onto gladly. In other words, Linux was the fashion then, even though installing one and bringing it to useful levels require considerable efforts from the user. Windows was considered middle ground. A bit of evil and a bit of blessing.
Ipod is significant because, thats one of the first product which changed this attitude over the time. Suddenly having an apple product became stylish. Iphone is one of the most fortunate product because ipod had already set the market tone for it and now ipad is following. Its funny to remember that, iphone is not the first PDA(or smartphone) apple has released and neither is ipad the first tablet., its Newton. Even though it was a revolutionary concept back then in 1990s', sadly, it never had the aura of fashion or style which iphone and ipad enjoy now.