Anyone who thinks the Mac is just another computer obviously doesn't own one, right? We all know it's more than a CPU, a hard drive, some RAM, and a bunch of pretty colored plastic; the whole is insanely greater than the sum of its parts, which is why the Mac draws fervent loyalty unheard of in other computer circles. (Well, okay, there's that whole Amiga thing, but let's not go there.) There's a drawback to that, though; if Macs aren't like other computers, they can't be sold like other computers. Listing specs only gets you so far, and there's no way a bunch of numbers on a page is going to persuade someone to buy a Mac instead of a Wintel system. Unless there's some extra effort put into selling the Mac's unique appeal, sales will suffer. Heck, just look at how staggeringly Best Buy failed at selling the iMac, back when it was the hottest thing on the market.

So one of Apple's long-standing headaches has been trying to control the manner in which Macs get sold-- trying to shoehorn a truly different product in amongst all the beige bundles of parts out there. It's not easy; look how long it took before the stores-within-stores became decent and the average CompUSA location offered at least a semi-reasonable Macintosh buying experience. Any company trying to enforce an elegant sales protocol in order to sell an elegant computer when 90% of the market is sheer dreck gets an "A" for effort. The problem is in the implementation; lots of people think Apple keeps too tight a hold on its sales requirements, thus making Macs tough for consumers to buy. What are our options? In terms of bricks and mortar, there's CompUSA, Sears (for iGoods), some larger regional retailers like Micro Center, and the real heroes, the independent local Apple-authorized dealers. Online, in some ways it's even worse: we either have to stick with the Apple Store, or choose among a handful of super-large catalog resellers, like MacWarehouse, MacConnection, or OutPost.com. Smaller resellers who are allowed to sell Macs in their stores are expressly prohibited from selling those same Macs from their web sites. Overly restrictive? Probably.

But that last policy appears to be changing-- at least, a little. According to MacWEEK, Small Dog Electronics (yep, the same Small Dog that's been advertising on AtAT since day one) will start selling new Apple computers from its web site starting in April. See, Small Dog's been selling used, refurbished, and discontinued Mac systems from its web site for a long time, but selling new, current systems at SmallDog.com was a no-no. However, it sounds like Apple's loosening up a bit: starting in April, Small Dog (and any other Apple-authorized resellers) will be able to sell new Apple products via the web, with one little catch: they're only allowed to sell to existing customers. So if you've never bought anything from them before, you still won't be able to order a G4 from their web site-- but once you've purchased, say, an Ethernet card from them, you'll get a shiny new password allowing you to order brand spanking new Apple gear to your heart's content. It's an improvement, right? It's nice to see that Apple's learning to relax a little; too much stress is bad for the soul.

All you recklessly E-Trading stock junkies who just cashed in big following this Palm IPO, don't forget to thank those who made your sudden windfall possible. There are a lot of people out there who made a lot of money when Palm's stock zoomed to a staggering first-day high of 165 before finally closing at 95 or so. Well, did you know that at least some folks are partially crediting the success of Palm's IPO to Apple Computer? No kidding; a CNET article tells the tale.

Think about it for a second; why did Palm's stock do so well? Well, okay, mostly it was because millions of amateur Internet day-traders with their fingers on the "buy" button heard PALM was going to go through the roof, so they participated in a self-fulfilling prophecy in the quest for a quick payoff. But on a deeper level, the IPO was also successful because there's a lot of confidence in Palm's executive management team. And guess who makes up that management team? Lots and lots of ex-Applefolk. Palm's chief marketing officer is Satjiv Chahil, who was Apple's senior veep of corporate marketing back in 1996. Then there's a whole string of Palm veeps-- the veep of worldwide sales, the veep of platform engineering, the veep of marketing, the veep of product development, and more-- all of whom are Apple alumni. Heck, there are even two ex-Apple people on the board of directors. It's like a frickin' reunion party or something. So make sure you thank Apple when you're counting your Palm gains.

On the flip side, we have to assume that there are at least a few people who are going to be cursing the heavens after they bought PALM at 165 and promptly watched their investment lose half its value in a day. All we can say is, don't blame Apple for that one-- they're only responsible for the good karma. Blame CNET instead, who probably offended the gods of "Duh" when they had the gall to claim that Palm's translucent, comes-in-different-colors Palm IIIe was "perhaps coincidentally" similar to the iMac. Yeah, and perhaps it's a coincidence that all the rest of those translucent, brightly-colored computing devices on the market these days look a little like the iMac. Sheesh...

We all know that Apple's legal department doesn't hesitate to go after companies who rip off its products' distinctive design for their own computers. There are cases pending against Future Power, Daewoo, eMachines, and Sotec for their various and sundry iMac ripoffs. But what of copycat products that aren't actually computers? We seem to recall a Japanese TV set that looked just like an iMac, and we never heard anything about a lawsuit there. And even farther afield is that infamous Timex alarm clock that looked just like an iMac after being locked in a cartoon steam room for too long. Again, no word of any lawsuit-- though the clocks themselves don't seem to be sold anymore, so it's possible that a stern letter from Apple Legal did the trick.

Anyway, the reason we bring this up is because faithful viewer Howard Adkins pointed out a new product coming out on the market: the Sumdex iShuttle. Sumdex says that "the first thing you will notice about the Sumdex iShuttle is its enticing design and a stunning shape that is sure to attract attention." Well, the first thing we noticed about it is the way that it egregiously steals the iBook's enticing design and stunning shape. We've got our iBook right in front of us as we look at the little iShuttle photo on Outpost.com's iShuttle product page, and we have to say, the resemblance is pretty startling: it's got the same colors (even referred to as Blueberry and Tangerine) in the same places, and even the handle is right where the iBook's is. All that's missing is the Apple logo in the middle of the field of Ice.

As for what the iShuttle is, it appears to be a laptop bag. We suppose you could put an iBook inside it, but that seems a little odd. We see it more as a sort of Halloween costume for the more boring Wintel laptops; buy an iShuttle and your boxy black Dell notebook can pass itself off as a stylish iBook in public-- provided Apple Legal lets Sumdex sell these things at all, that is. At least Sumdex is showing a little originality-- they're ripping off the iBook instead of the iMac.