We admit, we often worry far too much about issues that don't always directly affect us. Our concern over the relative performance of the iMac in the retail marketplace occasionally borders on the obsessive, despite the fact that whether the round translucent wonder is first or fortieth on the charts really shouldn't weigh very heavily on our minds. After all, such things make no difference at all to real issues in our day-to-day lives, such as how long it takes to get to work or what we can have for breakfast. (Not that a fruit-flavored sugary breakfast cereal consisting of crunchy little iMacs wouldn't be very welcome at our breakfast table. By the way, is anyone else absolutely thrilled that Quisp is back on the market?)

Still, we admit, we weren't very happy with the iMac's ranking in January sales, as posted by PC Data. If you recall, they stated that the Bondi Blue iMacs dropped from third place to fourth, while the five fruit-flavored iMacs combined didn't even crack the top fifteen. It did in fact seem possible that the iMac was a passing fad whose novelty had worn off, as the fickle multitudes spent their money on Compaq boxes instead. That's why we're tickled pink that longtime faithful viewer Avi Rappoport pointed us towards a ZDNN article with the très cool title, "iMac sales defy gravity." Well, they do kinda look like happy round helium balloons, after all...

Anyway, the gist of the article is that ZD Market Intelligence had completed their own study of last January's iMac numbers, and they conclude that sales of the world's first truly cute computer "are trucking along." According to them, iMacs accounted for a very respectable 6.6% of retail computer sales. Amazingly enough, that's as high a sales percentage as back when the iMac first debuted last August, if you can recall that particular feeding frenzy. So apparently the iMac is still holding its own-- or, at least it was back to kicking butt in January. It just goes to show that overall sales percentages are more important than sales rankings, since what matters is how many people bought iMacs instead of those "other things," not whether the "other things" consist of a single hot seller or three or four or forty.