Believe it or not, some of us harbored a mild sense of guarded optimism when Best Buy signed back on to sell iMacs. Sure, we remembered what it was like in the Performa days, and we hadn't forgotten that Best Buy was the first national retailer to jump ship when Apple started jettisoning its retail partners like so much bad fish. Still, Best Buy has a lot of consumer-oriented electronics stores across the country, and they sell a slew of computers to the average schmoe-- and there are Best Buys in many areas which lack a CompUSA. And surely Best Buy had learned its lesson, right?

So yeah, you can imagine that we're pretty much choking on that optimism right now, given that Best Buy has all but bowed out of the iMac game altogether, because they don't like the idea of stocking computers in five different colors. It's quite clear to us now that Best Buy just doesn't "get it" and it's unlikely that they ever will. And the whole Best Buy fracas has, unsurprisingly, somewhat tempered our enthusiasm about Apple's renewed partnership with Sears. Don't get us wrong-- we love the idea that iMacs will be gracing the shelves of some 800 departments stores nationwide, and it makes us somewhat giddy to think that most consumers will finally be able to buy iMacs at their local mall. But that doesn't mean we're not still nervous that the whole thing might collapse; after all, the iMac officially debuted in those 800 stores this past weekend, and we didn't see a single mention of the fact in the Sunday circulars. (Shades of CompUSA, anyone?) There's also the little matter of Sears charging a hundred bucks more for the iMac than even Apple is, which still gives us pause, even though people have made it clear to us that Sears really doesn't really need to compete with the likes of CompUSA and the Apple Store on price, since they have a ready-made and loyal clientele.

There have been some reports that Apple is working very closely with Sears to make sure that everything goes well, and that's encouraging, but we refuse to get our hopes up just yet. In the meantime, we'll buoy our spirits with the news that CompUSA is finally moving in the right direction; according to an article at theiMac.com, the national computer superstore is finally instituting a policy of training all of their sales staff on Apple's product line. Training apparently begins next week, and all sales reps will need to gain certification. That's a pretty serious commitment, and we hope it signals a realization at CompUSA's very top ranks just how much profit potential Apple products represent. Given CompUSA's recent financial woes, it's definitely time for them to start Thinking Different.