Off to get a new iPod. View Slideshow 
Not only are iPod users making their own ads for Apple Computer, they're turning themselves into ads for Apple.
IPod My Photo is a new web-based service that transforms any digital photo into a signature iPod silhouette-style ad.
Customers upload a digital snap, choose a background color and pay. In about five days, the "iPodified" image is e-mailed back to them. A white iPod and earbud wires will even be added to the picture, if so desired.
"It's mostly pets, a lot of children and tons of married couples," said iPod My Photo co-founder Kevin Muoio. "There's lots of new babies, too. Straight out of the womb -- bang, they've got an iPod on them."
IPod My Photo is the brainchild of Muoio, a 34-year-old salesman from Rhode Island, and his friend Dave Schroeder, 35, a web developer who lives in Virginia. The service comes hot on the heels of iPod users making their own home-brew video ads for Apple.
A week after launch, the pair have received orders for about 150 iPodified images.
"It's far exceeded our expectations," said Muoio. "We're getting some amazing feedback. There's been an absolutely ecstatic response."
The pair got the idea after noticing all the iPod parodies on the web. One suggested the silhouette style would make for interesting holiday cards and a business idea was born.
A few weeks later, they were offering the service over the web using contract Photoshop artists.
"The demand is pretty overwhelming," said Diego Maclean, iPod My Photo's lead designer. "I've got two associates here in Vancouver that are iPodifying as well. We're putting in long hours, but the variety of photos we receive ... keeps it fun."
Muoio said orders are coming from all over the world, mainly the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan.
"Why are people doing this?" he asked. "The iPod is a friggin' phenomenon. It's becoming an icon. It's like Kleenex -- every MP3 player will be called an iPod. It's amazing and exciting. It's what's hot right now."
Customers are using the images for holiday cards, gift tags and lots of T-shirts, Muoio said. They've received plenty of wedding photos, sent by friends wanting an unusual holiday gift for the couple in the picture.
One customer is using an iPodified image as a rain check in place of an iPod, which are selling out. The color of iPod mini they wanted won't be available until after the holidays, so they're gifting the image instead, Muoio said.
"It's a very creative idea from this little company," said Jackie Huba, co-author of Creating Customer Evangelists and the Church of the Customer website.
Huba said the testimonials on the site show some customers want the image to accompany an iPod gift. Others are using the image to demonstrate their love of the product, or make a connection with other iPod fans.
"The type of people who would use this service are mostly iPod customer evangelists who are attracted to ways to showcase their love for a product that has changed their life," she said.
"If people are passionate about a product, they can't get enough of things that are peripheral to that product," she added. "Much like teenagers who love a movie, so they buy a poster, the action figures, soundtrack and join the movie's website bulletin board."
The entrepreneurs are delighted with the public's response, but are a little worried about Apple's reaction.
"We hope Apple will be cool and see this as an extension of, er, the power of the iPod, and not someone trying to make a buck on their brand," Muoio said.
Muoio said the only complaints he's received are from designers who think $20 is too much for an operation anyone with image-editing software can perform.
"If you work in design, it's really friggin' easy," Muoio admitted. "But ask someone who is over 50 to do it, and it's not easy. It's not easy unless you've got the skills."
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For more news about Apple Computer and the Mac community, visit Leander Kahney's Cult of Mac blog (RSS).
