Every once in a while it's probably a good idea to take a step back and see how Apple's doing on the national retail outlet front. After Apple cleaned the slate a couple of years back, the sole remaining national retailer still allowed to sell Apple products was CompUSA. After a rocky start, most of CompUSA's bigger store-within-a-store problems seem to have settled down; sure, there are apparently still stores with no Apple-savvy personnel available (a blatant contract violation, we're told), and the continued omission of Macs and Mac-related software and accessories from the CompUSA Sunday circulars continues to rankle us like steel wool underwear, but for the most part things have improved. A lot of it comes down to who's running the Mac end of things at each particular store; there are some insanely great CompUSAs out there from a Mac perspective.

Then there's Best Buy. Wow, where to start... Put simply, the average iMac buying experience at Best Buy is akin to trying to wrestle a hunk of meat from a hungry tiger on speed-- you stand a slim chance of getting what you want, but the medical bills make it a hollow victory. Prospective iMac buyers were steered towards Wintels by untrained staff who openly bad-mouthed Apple on the store floor, prompting management to panic when they saw that, for some strange reason, they weren't selling as many iMacs as they'd hoped. Remember that panicked unloading of iMacs at $999 last year? And now there are still no fruit-flavored iMacs in Best Buy because they were squeamish about stocking five colors, and no one knows when they'll come back on board.

Let's hope Apple fares better with Sears, who, according to Apple Insider, is expected to sign back on with Apple to sell iMacs and the future consumer portable (now apparently officially dubbed the "iBook"). The rumors lack shape so far, but if Sears is really going to start selling Apple's consumer line sometime this summer, we'd have to say that MacWorld Expo seems like a natural time to announce the new alliance. That way, Sears could start selling iMacs immediately after the announcement-- and since the iBook will probably be released at the Expo as well, the timing's perfect. Can Apple avoid "Best Buy II"? We're keeping our fingers crossed...