Why Apple created an iPod division

Robert X. Cringely takes it upon himself to explain why Apple created a new division of the company just for the iPod. Mac types aren't going to like this, but he thinks that Steve Jobs could be trying to make it easier for Apple to get out of the business of selling computers:

[W]hat if sales don't rise significantly, or they rise for a few quarters and then plateau or even decline? Under
that scenario, I can imagine that Apple might stop Mac sales entirely and become a consumer electronics and software
company. Think about it. The upgrade to G5 cycle isn't going as well as Apple had hoped it would, but if the company
did an Intel upgrade cycle EVERYONE would move up. That's 20 million users instead of four to five million. Such a
move would boost profits (the software's already paid for, remember, so the margins can be HUGE) and make the company
look even better, at least for awhile... In order to pay for new business adventures, parts of the company that are
viewed as likely to die are starved of funds and milked of cash. Look for this to happen eventually for the Mac
division.

Seems a bit farfetched, but on the other hand, Steve Jobs has a history of making unpopular moves that later on turn out to have been very savvy business decisions.