So one of the many rumored announcements that never surfaced during Steve Jobs' keynote address a couple of weeks ago was the advent of a new Apple online service-- sort of like eWorld, only hopefully destined to be more successful. People were guessing that Apple would give the $1199 iMac a little sales boost by bundling, say, a free year's worth of Internet service. But no mention of "MyApple.com" was made, and furthermore, in a post-keynote interview, Jobs flatly stated that there would be no such thing as a "free" iMac, referring to the latest fad in the Wintel world of giving away a cheap PC when customers sign up for three years of Internet service. And we consider that a good move, given how strong the iMac's sales remain, even as these so-called "free" PCs are becoming available.

But there's no question that a lot of people don't have $1199 to fork over, and maybe some of those same people don't feel like giving up their three pizzas a month to get an iMac. (More likely, they don't feel like spending close to $2000 for that iMac, especially since they'd still be making payments on it in 2005 under Apple's consumer loan plan.) And one of the biggest reasons to get an iMac is to get wired to the Internet, which costs an additional $20 a month or so; if they'd be paying that anyway, why not sign up to get a free computer in the bargain? So there's probably demand for a "free" iMac program-- and that's just what FreeMac.com is banking on. According to a CNET article, their goal is to "give away" a million iMacs-- to people who sign up for long-term ISP contracts, of course. If everything goes according to plan, it's good news all around; people who want their "free" iMac can get it, and since everything's happening through a third-party company, Apple doesn't have to mess around with ISP contracts or overhead or any of that. Plus, they get to sell a million more iMacs-- which is half the total number sold since the little blue guy first debuted just over a year ago.

One of the criticisms of Apple that we hear repeated most often these days is that when the "novelty" of the iMac wears off (it's been "novel" for a year and is still going strong), there's no way Apple can compete in a market where people are demanding free computers. If FreeMac.com can succeed, then Apple doesn't have to. But don't get your hopes up too high; things that seem too good to be true often are. Lots of these "Free PC" programs never get off the ground, and when they do, customers often find they've gotten what they paid for-- as in, a free PC that never shows up. Heck, this isn't even the first time a company's tried the "free iMac" gig; remember last February when Shopss.com claimed they were going to give away 25,000 iMacs? No? Well, that should tell you something...