Okay, so the iMac was the number one selling computer in November. What's going to happen in December? Well, we figure that things are only going to get better. After all, December's when the serious holiday sales would presumably kick in, and the $30-a-month consumer loan program is still in full swing, so that's got to help, too. But the real factor that could make the iMac a grand slam in December is the price drop to $999. Now, before you bite our heads off over this, let's just make it clear that we are fully aware that Apple has not dropped the price of the iMac: it's still $1299, the same as on the day it was announced way back in May. But Best Buy didn't feel like waiting for Apple to send the iMac into sub-$1000-land, so they went ahead and took matters into their own hands.

Needless to say, Apple probably didn't like that move one bit-- a fact "confirmed" by Mac OS Rumors. Because once Best Buy dropped its iMac price below $1000, suddenly everyone else selling iMacs felt compelled to do something similar in order to compete. CompUSA, for example, had a non-advertised $999 price for iMacs in many of its stores this past weekend, and even MacWarehouse (never our choice for "lowest price available") apparently included a last-minute flyer in its latest catalog hawking iMacs for the $999 price. In addition, reports have been filtering in that many smaller resellers have felt "forced" into offering similar prices.

That's all great for the consumers who can snap up an iMac for such a low price, but it's more than a little tough on the resellers. According to a Webintosh article, a coalition of Mac resellers is considering filing a class action lawsuit against Best Buy for selling the iMac for so little-- as it turns out, the wholesale dealer price on the iMac is $1184.90, meaning that Best Buy started selling iMacs at a couple of hundred dollars below cost. Even Best Buy's "adjusted price" of $1099, posted on Friday, is too low for resellers to make a profit. So with Apple and a horde of unhappy, litigious resellers screaming for blood, the latest reports claim that Best Buy's iMac price will indeed rise again to $1279 by the end of the week. Our advice is this: if you find an iMac being sold for $1099 or less, snap it up quickly, because you probably won't get another chance at such a deal until the official price drop coming in February, or whenever. So Merry Christmas.