If there weren't some tension somewhere in Apple's relation with resellers, it just wouldn't be Apple. Most recently we were all treated to a squabble over fruit flavors between the Cupertino mothership and the Great Yellow Terror, formerly known as Best Buy; piled on top of a host of other irreconcilable differences, the color clash resulted in the severance of what should have been a powerful partnership. But just as most of us are getting past that (now that Sears has climbed aboard the iMac bandwagon and early indications are positive), the latest example in a long tradition of reseller tension rears its ugly head. This time it's the issue of product availability making the Mac reseller landscape resemble the sullen Thanksgiving dinner of a dysfunctional family.

The trouble is this: nobody can get their hands on any PowerBooks. The "bronze" models introduced by Jobs at the WWDC early last month were slated for a May 20th ship date, which quickly slid into June. Now, a product release delay is bad enough, but what's really got the resellers up in arms is that the Apple Store seems to have them available long before anyone else. And while that may sound perfectly natural to you-- after all, Apple's the company making them (sort of), so why wouldn't they have them first?-- here's the problem: If Apple starts using its manufacturer status to let the Apple Store compete unfairly with all of the other Mac resellers, things will get ugly. And according to MacCentral, that's pretty much what's already happened.

You might recall that when the Apple Store first debuted a couple of years ago, Apple was quick to assure worried resellers that Apple wouldn't be playing any favorites by shuttling inventory to the Apple Store at the expense of the other resellers. That policy would appear to have been reversed, as right now the only places that seem to have new PowerBooks available are the Apple Store and, according to Mac OS Planet, CompUSA-- Apple's sole national retailer for the professional machines. Regional and local resellers are apparently out of luck so far, as are mail-order houses, and relations are getting (understandably) strained. Here's hoping that Apple manages to iron things out and make everyone happy again. We suggest sending baked goods by way of apology...

As the next Macworld Expo draws ever closer, so does the introduction of what may well be the most anxiously awaited computer in Apple's history: the as-yet-to-be-named consumer portable internally referred to as "P1." And the Law of Increasing Imminence seems to be holding firm; despite Apple's best efforts at super-duper top secret Roswell-coverup-level security, minute details about the P1 are leaking out with increasing frequency as the official unveiling approaches. O'Grady's PowerPage, as usual, has the latest juicy tidbits about P1 and its subtle charms.

Apparently those of you who were holding onto a pipe dream of getting a fairly full-featured PowerBook with iMac stylings all for the magical price of under $1000 may be sorely disappointed. While Jobs desperately wanted to hit that price point, the reality of the situation prevailed, and the expected sticker price is probably closer to $1299. (Makes sense-- we can't see the iMac dropping another couple of hundred bucks anytime soon, and we have to assume that the P1 will cost a bit more than an iMac due to the "portability premium.") More bad news: in order to get the price even that low, Apple may be omitting several features the many people will consider absolutely crucial in a laptop. For instance, P1 may lack even a single PC card slot. Does anyone else sense an iMac paradigm? While both Ethernet and modem are expected to be included, the P1 sounds completely non-expandable by standard means, beyond increasing the RAM. But Apple pulled it off with the iMac, and so they may well feel that they can do it again with P1.

On the plus side, here's what you do get for your $1299 (or whatever)-- funky translucent colors, a "ruggedized" design that should be able to withstand the abuse inherent in your average schoolkid's hectic day, and possibly-- and here's the deal-clincher, folks-- a retractable handle. It's all about handles. As Apple has demonstrated with the iMac and the new Power Macs, if you build something translucent and include at least one handle, it'll sell. That's why P1 is a guaranteed smash hit. Start buying up stock now.

Sometimes while watching "Redmond Justice," it's easy to forget that Microsoft is capable of pulling off a courtroom shock play, too. Sure, in most cases the really interesting developments in the ongoing antitrust trial originate from the government side and Smilin' Dave Boies: the event that first springs to mind is how he spotted that Microsoft's videotaped Windows speed test was a fake. But when they get together and put their minds to it, the Redmond team can sizzle, too. Take, for example, the dramatic highlight of Steven Holley's cross-examination of government witness Edward Felten, as reported by Inter@ctive Week Online.

Felten, you may recall, is the gentleman who came up with a program that he claimed could "uninstall" Internet Explorer from Windows, thus proving that it was a separate application and not an integral part of the underlying Windows technology, as Microsoft has repeatedly claimed. Microsoft's response to the Felten program is that it removes only a small portion of the overall code that comprises Internet Explorer, and to prove it, Holley pulled off what we felt was rather a nice dramatic demo. First he handed Felten a "new Toshiba laptop" and told him to go ahead and run his IE-removing software. When that was done, Holley told Felten to press a sequence of keys. Lo and behold, a working IE browser window popped up. Certainly that kind of demonstration should have elicited a few gasps from the peanut gallery, no?

Of course, it doesn't actually prove anything, but it's definitely good showmanship, and we can respect that. For their part, the government lawyers objected, which is crucial for any courtroom stunt to qualify as truly "dramatic," and Holley and Felten then "proceeded to trade barbs over what the demonstration proved." Judge Jackson also played his role admirably, eventually stopping the demonstration and denying a request by Holley that the demonstration be repeated on another PC "without any other software on it," presumably to prove that he hadn't cooked the demo by preparing the Toshiba ahead of time. (After all their exposed faked demos, we perfectly understand Microsoft's desire to prove that they aren't pulling any strings.) So you see, the Microsoft team isn't completely uncharismatic and dull after all; they can inject a little drama now and then when they need to. That's why "Redmond Justice" is such a great show-- the whole cast shows talent.