There comes a point in the life cycle of every exposed cover-up at which it becomes impossible for the perpetrators to maintain a stance of plausible deniability. At that time it's generally considered wise to drop back and punt with a damage control strategy instead. Whether or not that's what's going on with Apple is up to you to decide, but as faithful viewer Charles notes, the same company who first claimed that it didn't even have a server called "littlebuddy.apple.com" now appears to have modified its stance in the face of undeniable evidence: namely, the fact that visiting littlebuddy in a web browser clearly proves that the server exists. (In other words, it's tough to cop an "innocent" plea when you're holding the smoking gun.)

And so, Apple's official acknowledgement of littlebuddy's existence recently appeared in the form of a new Tech Info Library article laying down the party line: littlebuddy is an "Apple product registration server" which is contacted by the Mac OS 9 Setup Assistant for the secure transmission of your registration info. Apparently when littlebuddy gets your data, it sends a confirmation message back to the Setup Assistant, and thus ends the first and last time that your Mac shakes hands with littlebuddy. Unfortunately, if that confirmation message never makes it back to your Mac (because, for example, you're behind a firewall), then Setup Assistant assumes that your registration info never made it to its intended destination... and it keeps trying to contact littlebuddy over and over again, without ever receiving an answer. That's the Apple conspirators' story and they're sticking to it.

If this phenomenon happens to you, the solution is simple: just trash the "Setup Info Dispatcher" extension and restart, after which littlebuddy is just a vague memory-- some hardhearted server who never returned your Mac's calls. At least, that's what Apple wants you to think. Any number of more sinister explanations are possible, ranging from the obvious "invasion of privacy" scenarios to the more outré "littlebuddy is secretly coordinating a massive attack plan and at zero hour all Macs will rise up and turn against their masters" possibility. In reality, though, we find Apple's explanation pretty logical after all-- and if the posted fix works, then there's no harm done. Your Mac will be littlebuddy-free... except for those nights when it gets really drunk and calls it up at three o' clock in the morning.

Now that the news about Apple's planned retail outlets has graduated from "speculative rumor" to the coveted status of "well-documented certainty" (thanks to the blabbermouths on the Palo Alto architectural review board), the repercussions of the move are starting to sink in around the community. First of all, many of you who are damned to wander the murky aisles of, say, your local CompUSA for your Macs-at-retail needs were wondering what the time scale is for the opening of this glorious Mac retail paradise. Well, according to a Reuters article, a Palo Alto planning official stated that Apple's intention is to open its first three stores this coming April. While there's no evidence available regarding Apple's timetable to open more stores outside of California, we'd have to guess that most of you are going to have to wait until at least the end of next year-- and that's assuming that you live in an area that Apple deems worthy enough to be graced with its regal retail presence.

Then there's the more contentious issue central to Apple's plans: is Apple royally screwing its existing resellers? A MacWEEK article reveals that as recently as October 23rd (less than a month ago, for the calendarily-challenged), Apple's senior veep of worldwide operations "assured" its Apple Specialist stores that the company "would not open retail stores." Dig back a little further and you'll find that Mitch Mandich, Apple's senior veep of worldwide sales (who is "coincidentally" retiring at the end of this year), reportedly told resellers a year ago that "it would be 'years' before Apple opened any stores." (Technically, that's almost correct, since April of 2001 is indeed more than a year after November of 1999-- but hey, who's counting?) Now that Apple's diving head-first into the retail bricks-and-mortar game, many of the company's dedicated retail partners have a right to feel a little ticked off.

For instance, faithful viewer Jeff notes that ComputerWare has been an outstanding Mac-only reseller for years. The company has stuck by Apple through thick and thin (and you all remember how thin things got a few years back), and is even a member of Apple's Dealer Advisory board. Now, here's the rub: there's a ComputerWare location "about five minutes away" from Apple's downtown Palo Alto store. That means ComputerWare is going to have to compete head-to-head with the very company who indirectly stocks its shelves with merchandise-- a daunting prospect by any measure. And reportedly Apple Specialists still haven't even received official word from Apple about its move into the retail space; the company is still declining comment on the matter.

All of this indicates that Apple's wading into some pretty dangerous waters. There's no way the company can open enough of its own stores to fill the gap left by a potential mass exodus of betrayed Mac resellers-- at least, not in the time frame necessary to prevent its sales from dropping through the floor. Hopefully Steve and his minions have a game plan to keep Apple's stores from gutting the company's own resellers. And hopefully they'll share that plan soon, before the resellers march on Cupertino armed with pitchforks and torches.

Wow, suddenly we've got rebates coming out of our ears. (No, not literally. Grow up.) Not long ago, spurred on by slow Cube sales and PowerBooks that appeared hideously overpriced compared to their recently-refreshed little iBook siblings, Apple launched a pair of rebate programs intended to help move merchandise off the shelves. One offered customers $200 back on any PowerBook bought before the end of the year, and the other gave $300 back on any Cube purchased with a matching Apple display. Not long after that, Apple added a RAM rebate which offers customers a buck back for every custom-configured megabyte of RAM over and above the Mac's original amount.

But if that's not enough please-allow-six-to-eight-weeks-for-fulfillment fun for you all, fear not-- faithful viewer Ben Cruz was first to point out Apple's latest addition to the happy rebate family: get "up to $500 back" when you buy a dual-processor Power Mac G4 (with or without an Apple display) by December 31st. You get the full $500 if you spring for the dual-500 MHz model; skimp and get the dual-450 MHz instead and you'll only get $300 back. Then again, even $300's nothing to sneeze at, and you can add to your savings by taking advantage of Apple's extra-RAM rebate, too.

Of course you all realize the greater implications of this promotion, right? If Apple's now blowing out its Power Mac inventory for the next five or six weeks, then the possibility of faster G4s at Macworld Expo suddenly seems even more likely. So here's the conundrum: will Apple's rebates move merchandise by lowering net prices to consumers, or will they actually slow sales as potential customers suddenly realize that nicer gear is probably a mere month and a half away? Blimey, this channel-clearing stuff is trickier than we thought!