Remember the giddy sense of pride we all felt when the iMac fulfilled its destiny and topped the retail sales charts, finally silencing the naysayers who predicted a dismal flop? Ahhh, that was sweet. Seeing, for example, a longtime anti-Mac fanatic like Hiawatha Bray not only publicly recant his prediction of terrible sales numbers for the iMac but also admit to using one himself, well, that was one of the high points in Apple's recent press history. In recent months, though, the iMac has tumbled from the top of the sales charts. We're awaiting post-Kihei numbers to see if Apple's new iMac DV can propel the translucent little buddy back to the top.

In the meantime, though, it appears that out-of-the-gate sales success runs in the iFamily. Faithful viewer Jerry O'Neil pointed us to an Apple press release which states that PC Data's October sales numbers are out, and the Blueberry iBook was the "number one selling portable computer in the U.S. retail market in October." That's great news for the iBook, who suffered from even worse production delays (LCD shortages, the Taiwan quake) than its big brother did at introduction. And it's also great news for Apple, who claims that the iBook has boosted the company's share to 11% of the retail portable market last month-- up from 6.5% the month before. A CNET article has more on the whole happy subject.

At the same time, we can't say we're shocked at the iBook's commanding sales performance at retail outlets. After all, the iBook is really the first portable computer that's targeted completely at the consumer market-- its looks, its price, and its feature set are all focused on the home user, not the suits who spend half their lives on airplanes, trying to look important. (Forget it, buddy, you're not impressing anyone-- we can see you're only playing Tetris.) And where does Joe Schmoe buy his computers? Yup, at retail outlets. Large businesses, on the other hand, who have to make sure their salespeople have those nice, boxy, impressive Wintel laptops, often buy direct from a company like Dell or Gateway, and those sales don't show up in PC Data's numbers. Not that this in any way detracts from the iBook's terrific success; it simply shows that it's succeeding in the very market it was designed to conquer. And now that production and availability problems are easing up, we're anxiously awaiting the sales numbers for November and December's holiday season. Santa might just have a bag full of Blueberry and Tangerine this year...

It seems to be a recurring theme over the past couple of years: thieves who go out of their way to steal Apple equipment, and only Apple equipment, often passing up scads of "perfectly good" Wintel dreck in the process. We've heard about it again and again-- burglars who take the time to pick one more lock to get at the Macs when the PCs are right there and ready to be ripped off. Heck, it even happened to us once. Our beloved PowerBook Duo was stolen from a Los Angeles physics lab, while the Wintel laptop sitting right next to it remained untouched. Sure, a potentially higher theft rate may be a hidden disadvantage of Mac ownership, but isn't it great to know that if your Mac gets grabbed, it becomes Stolen Goods For The Rest Of Us™?

These days, though, we've got a whole new breed of Mac thieves running around, and these guys are selective. Unsurprisingly, when it comes to sticky-fingered felons, these days the Apple-branded prey of choice is none other than the translucent rubber-and-plastic portable known as the iBook. Think about it; almost everything about the iBook makes it an attractive target. First of all, if the sales numbers can be believed, it's extremely popular-- especially among the consumer crowd, which would make it easy to fence. It's a relatively scarce commodity, too; not so very long ago, brand new factory-sealed iBooks were selling for hundreds of dollars over list price on eBay. That translates into a high resale value for the thief. At under seven pounds, the iBook is very portable-- and very takeable. Heck, there's even a handle for the ultimate in convenient and easy-to-carry larceny. Plus iBooks look like candy so thieves can satisfy that whole "candy from a baby" urge.

So keep one eye on your iBook at all times. And if you're an Apple reseller, get yourself a trusty watchdog to protect your valuable iBook stock, or you'll wind up like ImagiQ of San Antonio, TX. According to O'Grady's PowerPage, those poor folks suffered a break-in a few weeks back, and the only things taken from the whole Mac-only store were three Blueberry iBooks-- two factory-sealed, and one demo model. Looks like there'll be a few more iBooks available on the holiday black market. So if you're walking down the street and a shady-looking character quietly tries to interest you in a cheap iBook, do the ImagiQ folks a favor and give them a call. Police sketch artists are standing by.

Face it: looks count. People judge things on appearances. It's a hard fact of life, but once it's accepted, the sky's the limit for those with a flair for style. Would the iMac have been a phenomenon if it had the same feature set but looked like a beige monitor with an enormous butt like the Gateway Astro? Would the iBook be topping the sales charts if it were a squat black box with nothing but straight lines and right angles? Yeah, right. Which means that Apple (and the whole Mac-using community) owes a huge debt to the man who makes its products look the way they do: Jonathan Ive.

Of course, that doesn't mean that we in the Mac-using community actually need to repay our debt to Mr. Ive; we figure Apple's probably paying him plenty. On top of that, his creations rack up so many awards, Ive's probably having a Trophy Wing added on to his house right about now. And last week, the iGuru received yet another award to dress up his place: the Royal Society of Arts bestowed upon him the coveted Medal for Achievement in Design in a London ceremony. (Throw it on the pile, Jon.) A MacWEEK article has more on Mr. Ive's latest prestigious honor.

The really interesting stuff, though, is the list of little details about his creations that Ive shared with the audience. Industrial design isn't just about looks-- it's about substance, too, and Macs have substance oozing out of their ports. For instance, Ive revealed that every iBook has a "tiny spanner set" (that'd be "wrenches" for the uninitiated) hidden in its plastics in case they're needed for an emergency screen replacement. And the new iMac case is actually a lens, whose special shape circulates air better and allowed the removal of the fan. Crazy! It's little touches like that which make Apple's-- and Ive's-- products masterpieces of design. Well, that and the fact that they look about a bazillion times better than anything else out there. Substance is one thing, but style rules the sales figures.