Where have all the iBooks gone? The answer may surprise you. It's no secret that Apple's supply of the luscious new consumer portables is pretty heavily constrained, and that availability's not going to improve very much for probably at least a month due to lingering production difficulties in Taiwan following the earthquake. So there's only a precious few iBooks to go around, and for the most part, they seem to have gone to two places. One big batch went to the homes of those irrepressible souls who pre-ordered from the Apple Store early on. The rest appear to have gone to Sears.

Yes, Sears. At least, according to MacProvider, and we've been receiving independent iBook-at-Sears reports over the weekend. Now, we always knew that Sears would be carrying the iBook; in fact, it was widely rumored that the iBook was an even bigger enticement to their return to Apple-resellerdom than the iMac was. What surprises us, though, is that while there are thousands of people waiting for their orders to be filled from resellers like Cyberian Outpost, CompUSA, etc., apparently Sears stores across the country have a few iBooks in stock, just waiting to be bought by anyone with enough credit left on his/her plastic. As far as we know, Sears didn't even take pre-orders for the iBook-- or, if they did, they were pretty darn quiet about it.

So why did Sears get them? Who knows? It's probably some kind of political thing; maybe Apple promised them the first batch as a condition for selling iMacs or something. We can imagine that many people who pre-ordered iBooks from non-Apple-Store sources are more than a little miffed that they're still twiddling their thumbs and waiting, while lazy slugs like us who never bothered to pre-order can own an iBook first. Similarly, we bet the resellers are hopping mad-- especially after the last supply distribution scandal, when Apple kept all of the first "bronze" Powerbook G3 systems for the Apple Store and let the resellers go hungry. All we can say is, hopefully Apple will be a bit more willing to share when handing out the Kihei iMacs-- and if you can't wait any longer for your pre-ordered iBook, check out your local Sears; you may be able to cancel your order and buy an iBook today. Don't forget, Sears will match prices, so don't be fooled by that $1699 price tag. And if you open a Sears charge account, you can take an additional 10% off...

So were you wondering how Japanese iMac cloner Sotec was able to get a "remodeled" version of its "e-one" system out the door so quickly? Maybe you weren't; after all, the only design difference in the new "e-one 500" model is the use of uniform "Millennium Blue" silvery plastic instead of the more derivative blue and white in the original. (Of course, we're using the term "original" very loosely, here.) The thing is, we imagine that even something as basic as switching over to different plastics would generally introduce a longer production delay than Sotec experienced, but now we know why they were able to scramble so quickly once Apple won the preliminary injunction barring Sotec from shipping the blue and white e-one: the new e-one 500 has been waiting in the wings for months, now.

According to an Asia BizTech article, Sotec president Soichi Obe claims that the e-one 500 was originally slated for a November release, targeted at businesses who would prefer its more conservative stylings to the garish blue and white of Sotec's first copycat. Once the injunction hit, they simply switched gears and got the e-one 500 out the door a month earlier. So far there's been no word from Apple on whether they plan to get the injunction extended to include the "Millennium Blue" model as well, given that even with the new plastics it still looks so much like Apple's own cuddly consumer computer, rumor has it that eMachines is considering dropping the "eOne" moniker and selling the new model with the product name "I Can't Believe It's Not An iMac!". Just because the new one is silver doesn't mean there isn't a solid likelihood of customer confusion; sure, it may not be mistaken for a current iMac, but it wouldn't surprise us if prospective customers assumed it was a new iMac based entirely on its shape.

Predictably, Obe states that his company plans to file an objection to the preliminary injunction barring the sale of the first e-one. His argument? "We are not talking about goods that cost only several thousand yen. I can hardly believe that there is a consumer who buys a PC priced more than 100,000 yen without knowing basic specifications such as the operating system." Which, of course, just goes to show that Obe doesn't get it. Maybe things are different in Japan, but here in the U.S., the consumer who doesn't even know what an operating system is just happens to be Apple's target market for the iMac-- and there are plenty of people out there who fit the description, for better or for worse.

You probably think that, when Steve Jobs takes the stage on Tuesday to address the world at this mysterious "event," you know exactly what he's going to show us all. First, there's the new iMac; Apple's been running itself ragged trying to shut down all the sites posting the alleged "Kihei" images, and the "event" was announced just days after the dam broke and Kihei pictures and specs were plastered all across the Mac webscape. So that's a pretty safe bet. Then there's Mac OS 9, which is rumored to be complete, or darn close; odds are that Steve will announce an official release date for that, too. So now you can smirk and act smug and self-satisfied, right?

But doesn't part of you just know that Steve wouldn't let such a big event go without at least one big surprise? Sure, Kihei was supposed to be a surprise, but now that even the guy selling papers on our corner seems to be able to recite the specs by heart, we can't help but think that Steve would have to add something to the mix to make us all say "whoa." Remember, this isn't a keynote at a trade show, like Macworld Expo or Seybold. This is a bona fide Apple-announced, Apple-sponsored media event designed to stir up press coverage. And while Kihei is big, we just can't see Steve accepting headlines like "As Expected, Apple Introduces New iMac." Maybe we're expecting too much, but we bet there's more to the story.

So what, if anything, will it be? Well, Apple Insider lists a bunch of semi-predictable possibilities, such as the long-rumored Apple-branded handheld computer to replace the Newton, or some kind of Apple-branded Internet service, or even the unveiling of Apple Store "boutiques," much like the Gateway Country stores that have worked quite well for the competition. But Apple Insider claims that, most likely of all, Apple may take the opportunity to announce a widespread "re-branding" campaign. Apparently "Think Different" may be retired; it played a great game and helped get Apple back on a winning streak, but now it's reported that the company is planning something new-- something more befitting a company that's back on top. Of course, there's no word on what the new message will be; after all, we need some suspense, right? If this turns out to be true, we'll miss "Think Different"; some day we'll look back upon the campaign that helped bring Apple back from the brink of disaster, and we'll chuckle fondly at all the grammar arguments Apple started. Maybe the new slogan will be something equally controversial, like "Spel Badlee."