It's wartime, troops, and you all know that Apple is fighting a multi-front war. Let's consider the different territories, shall we? First, there are the two Apple strongholds: Education and Graphics. While the Redmond Terror has made significant inroads into both in recent years, Apple claims to retain the lion's share of the land; the last time we heard it mentioned, we believe Steve Jobs was claiming that Apple's total market share in the educational channel was holding steady at a healthy majority, and reports from the front indicate that many graphics shops who took a tentative step into the wonderful world of NT are more than happy to return to where their true loyalties remain. Then there's the Consumer front. Apple was long absent from that fight, and had all but conceded the territory to the Wintel forces, when suddenly the secret weapon known as the iMac turned everything around. In a strategic coup that left the beige competition gasping for breath, the translucent brightly-colored curves of the iMac stole back market share Apple hadn't seen since its Golden Age of Prosperity. That's a war story we'll all be telling our grandkids.

Now, Apple's surprise push back into Consumer territory has gotten some people wondering whether the scrappy Cupertino underdogs have any plans to try and claim some share in another non-Apple market: Enterprise. Apple's got a long history of attacking the business market and gaining nothing but a big casualty count. (Remember back when the Power Macintosh was "the Business Macintosh"? Yeesh.) Yet another attempt could be foolhardy-- kind of like fighting a land war in Asia. However, recent whispers of an alliance with IBM might seriously tip the scales if such a battle commences. Suppose IBM starts building, selling, and supporting Apple-blessed Mac OS X Server systems and net-bootable Mac OS clients to match? It's just so crazy it might work. After all, IBM's middle name is "Business." Literally.

We at AtAT don't pretend to know what Apple's doing on the business front, but the rumors are intriguing. Take Mac the Knife's latest column, for example; reportedly "Cupertino is quietly organizing a business unit that will pursue Microsoft right into its bunkers in IS departments across the land." The impetus for this top-secret black-ops unit is apparently a growing discontent in at least some sectors of the enterprise world that's said to be causing quite a few defections to the Mac platform. Grain of truth, or just a pipe dream? We can't say, but the Knife separately mentions multi-processor G4 Mac servers and desktop systems coming soon that just might be the key to winning the hearts and minds of IS departments everywhere. The current Power Mac G4 is classified by the government as a weapon; now imagine a double-barrelled one. Kablam!

Megahertz versus gigaflops. Apple versus the iMac cloners. AMD versus Intel. Windows versus Linux. There's a lot of vicious bloodletting on the desktop computer battlefield these days, and we wouldn't be surprised if some of you are getting a little burnt out by it all. So if you're tired of the Desktop Wars, why not check in with the Handheld Wars instead? It's all the same corporate carnage, but it fits right in the palm of your hand-- a nice change of pace, right? (What, you thought we were going to advocate a break from the popular spectator sport known as technological fisticuffs to read a nice, peaceful book instead? Get real.)

Right now it's pretty widely acknowledged that Palm is king of the hill when it comes to handheld systems, but there are challengers to the crown. Handspring, the startup run by Palm's original co-founders, is poised to unveil their new Visor handheld, which is supposedly cheaper, faster, and more expandable than Palm's offerings. And then there are all those Windows CE (or should we say WinCE?) devices, trying to topple Palm from the throne by sheer weight of Windows. So how does Palm fight back? Well, according to an Associated Press article, 3Com (Palm's parent company) just announced that Palm will be spun off into a "separate publicly-traded company" next year, in hopes of raising cash to fatten up the war chest. And if you think this announcement coming so close to the Visor unveiling is just a coincidence, it's time to check your dinnerware's lead content.

Interestingly enough, Palm faces problems similar to Apple's with the iMac; specifically, we're thinking about how both companies have a number one product whose position is threatened by "clone" devices running versions of Windows. The eOne and any random WinCE device may exhibit a vast difference in size, but the strategy behind both products is the same: Windows conquers all. And speaking of Apple, don't forget, they're not out of the Handheld Wars just yet. Sure, the Newton is dead, but the technology is still in Apple's arsenal, and if rumors of a Palm partnership ever come to fruition, things might get very interesting indeed. Heck, we know Steve Jobs tried to buy first Palm and then Handspring, both to no avail, but once Palm becomes publicly traded, do you suppose he'll still be in a shopping mood?

How about a quick breather from the smell of gunsmoke and the piercing screams of those who don't innovate fast enough to survive in this fast-paced tech world? Well, a semi-breather, at least-- we thought we'd check in with Apple's Cupertino weapons lab, where the engines of their enemies' destruction are forged. If we had to pick a single technology Apple's got that stands to win converts who otherwise would never have considered the Mac platform, we'd have to choose Airport. Wireless networking at full Ethernet speeds? Sign us up! Sure, the technology exists for other platforms, but no one integrates it as elegantly as Apple; pop in a $99 internal card, and you're wireless. No bulky units jutting out of the side of the laptop or stuck to the top of the minitower, because the antennae are built into the machines themselves, running through the translucent plastic. Just plug and go.

At least, in theory. Airport was long a "not yet available" option at the Apple Store, due to pending FCC clearance of the implementation. And while the iBook alone is a pretty compelling purchase, it's Airport that's really going to fuel record-breaking sales. So we're happy to see lots of people talking about how the Airport card is now an available option on Apple Store iBook orders-- try it and see. Sadly, the Airport Base Station is still not available, and if it doesn't get clearance by the time the iBook ships in (hopefully) a couple of weeks, there may be some Airport-enabled iBook owners twiddling their antennae as they wait to experience the Joy of Wireless-- unless they know other Airport-ready iBook users so they can build a peer-to-peer network and whomp the heck out of each other in Quake II.

By the way, it might just be the Apple Store lagging behind, but if you try to configure a G4 with an Airport card, it's still labeled as "not yet available." Personally, we've come to the conclusion that if Apple Store information appears to be out of date, it probably is. After all, the iBook lead time still says "45 days," and the Airport option says "70 days." Apparently the delivery lead times only get updated on special occasions, like the appearance of a comet or a solar eclipse.