It's probably too early to say for sure just yet, but initial observations indicate that Apple's $29.99-a-month consumer loan program is indeed helping to bolster the iMac's already-strong sales. When the program was officially announced a couple of weeks ago, however, we weren't overly impressed; rumors had been circulating that the interest rate on the loan would be a respectable 8%, but instead it turned out to be nearly 15%. That's still low compared to a lot of credit cards, and it's on par with the interest rate charged by Gateway's successful Your:)Ware program, but it means that if you make your minimum $29.99 payment each month, you'll be doing it for a whopping 67 months before you've paid off your iMac.

At the cost of three pizzas a month, that's a lot of pizzas. Two hundred pizzas. Yes, if you only ever make the minimum payments, you're paying over $2000 for a $1299 iMac. Sure, it's worth it to many people who just can't lay out $1299 right now but still want a computer, so we think it's a nice program to have around... It's just that we can't help feeling a little jealous of those Macophiles over in Japan. According to AsiaBizTech, Apple Japan has just announced their own version of the loan: dubbed the "Apple Smart Loan," it allows customers to borrow up to 200,000 yen (that's almost $1700 U.S.-- plenty to get an iMac and a few peripherals) at a 1% interest rate. If we had such a great interest rate available over here, we'd be giving up a lot fewer pizzas for the sake of owning an iMac.

The Goddess of Interest Rates is a fickle one, indeed; we've got to assume that this incredibly low interest rate in Japan is due at least in part to Apple's big push to grow its overseas markets in a big way. Still, you take what you can get, we suppose. And in case you were wondering, no, even we wouldn't give up pizza for five and a half years to own an iMac. We'd rather give up something less crucial to survival, like heat. (What did you think we were going to say-- cable? Get real.)