Okay, who's ready to sink even deeper into debt? It would appear to be official; Apple now has a new consumer loan program that lets people pay for their Macs over time-- at a modest interest rate, of course. According to a MacWEEK article, while Apple hasn't yet made a formal announcement, an Apple Consumer Loan representative confirmed the program's existence. The new low-interest loans became available this Monday, and are actually going to be handled by retailers instead of by Apple itself.

Cool! That implies that Apple reaps the benefits of (hopefully) more Mac customers, while avoiding the headache of processing all the paperwork. It's also not clear to us just who gets the interest on the loans; since the loans are handled by the retailer instead of Apple, perhaps the two entities split the proceeds. Whatever. As it stands, this new retailer-based loan is currently available only from select Apple resellers, including some CompUSA stores, CompuTown, and other unnamed outlets. A big omission right now is that the loan is not available from Best Buy, though right now, neither are iMacs, so we suppose that's just as well. But once those iMacs hit the Best Buy shelves next Sunday, we'd certainly hope that this consumer loan will be available from such a consumer-oriented store.

Now here's the really interesting bit: the current rate of the Apple Consumer Loan is 14.89%, which is almost exactly what Gateway charges for its Your:)Ware program. (At least, that's the best rate available from Gateway-- apparently not everyone qualifies for that rate and so they get stuck for even more.) But according to the MacWEEK article, on Thursday the interest rate on Apple's loan will drop to only 8%, which sounds like a great borrowing rate to us. Heck, our student loans have higher interest rates than that. Sure, there are catches: you've got to be eighteen or older, for a start, and you've also got to have an annual income of at least $15,000 a year. But those are pretty loose restrictions when it comes right down to it. So who's up for a $29.95-a-month iMac?

It's like something out of an inspirational children's story, isn't it? "The Little iMac That Could." Ever since its unveiling way back in early May, the iMac has captured the eye of the press and reinvigorated interest in a computer company that a great many had written off as irrelevant. There are still plenty of naysayers around, but there's little argument that the iMac has really affected Apple's situation in a huge way. Take, for example, the company's growth; instead of reducing headcount to try to stay afloat, Apple's actually hiring people these days because they simply can't build enough iMacs for everyone who wants to buy them. A Sacramento Business Journal article has more details on Apple's increasing workforce.

Reportedly, Apple's Laguna West manufacturing family is now 200 people larger. Apple hired the additional help to "keep up with record-setting sales of the iMac." This is in addition to those other 400 employees that Apple brought on earlier this year; apparently 400 new hires just wasn't nearly enough when it comes to building iMacs. Not only that, but things are going well enough that Apple has apparently shelved its plans to sell off a vacant building in Laguna where they once made circuit boards. Instead of selling it, rumor has it that Apple now plans to convert it into a customer service call center, where about another hundred new hires will field support calls from Mac users. That stands in sharp contrast to the Apple of two years ago, who was forced to shut down the Laguna plant and lay off 250 employees.

Now, granted, these are factory workers Apple's adding, and not think-tank engineers or software developers who will be working on the Next Big Thing™. And while we'd be ecstatic to hear that Apple's doing well enough to hire 200 engineers to create innovative new products that'll take us all into the next millennium, we'll settle for hearing about more hands being hired to put together today's cutest computer. It's growth, and growth based on demand for product. And with luck, it's only the beginning.

Well, we've all heard about Avie Tevanian's written testimony in the "Redmond Justice" trial, and it's pretty clear that Avie's squarely on the government's side on this one. He hasn't been called for cross-examination yet-- that will likely happen on Wednesday-- but Bill Gates did respond to the allegations, albeit in a virtual timewarp Max Headroom-like way. The government played select video footage of Gates' taped deposition from last August in which he answered questions about the two specific allegations Avie made in his testimony: that Microsoft threatened to cancel Office for the Mac unless Internet Explorer became the default browser for the Mac OS; and that Microsoft tried to get Apple to cancel QuickTime for Windows, threatening to crush Apple otherwise. An IDG News Service article has lots of juicy details about Mr. Gates' testimony.

Apparently Gates doesn't come off too flatteringly on the tape; he's described as "ill-at-ease," "combative," and "befuddled." But we'll certainly say one thing for the man: he can dodge questions with the best of them. We haven't seen this many unlikely "I don't recalls" since the Ollie North hearings. When asked about an email message that he wrote about last year's Apple pact, in which he stated that he wanted to get "as much mileage as possible" out of the deal to build "a real advantage against Sun and Netscape," Gates claimed he didn't recall sending the message (which, by the way, included the question, "Do we have a clear plan on what we want Apple to do to undermine Sun?").

Probably the piece of evidence that struck the most resonant chord with us was email to Gates from Ben Waldman, the Microsoft dude in charge of Apple software. If you've seen any big Apple event in the past year or so, you've seen Waldman-- he's the guy who trots out the same old joke every time he hits the stage, saying how surprising it is that a Microsoft representative can get applause from a pack of Mac users. (That may change pretty quickly after this.) Well, if Waldman ever struck you as maybe being a two-faced weasel, you've now got more evidence to support your theory. In a message to Gates, he wrote, "the threat to cancel Mac Office 97 is certainly the strongest bargaining point we have, as doing so will do a great deal of harm to Apple immediately. I also believe that Apple is taking this threat pretty seriously..." We hope that's being taken waaay out of context, though we're hard-pressed to imagine a context in which it's a more positive statement. Kind of makes us less likely to see Waldman as a Mac guy trying to change Microsoft from the inside. By the way, Gates says he doesn't recall ever receiving this email. Big surprise. Things are coming to a head, that's for sure, and we're anxiously awaiting Avie's cross-examination, because he seems like a really level-headed guy who is finally totally fed up. Stay tuned.