When techno-historians look back fifty years from now, the saga of Apple's going to make one heck of a bedtime story; c'mon, it's already a rollicking good ride, and there's lots more yet to be written. But we've got a feeling that one of the things for which this current Apple-- the late '90s resurgent Apple-- will be best remembered will be hype. In our collective opinion, Steve Jobs is probably the best and most masterful showman since Barnum, and while Apple's cranking out some really terrific products, they wouldn't be selling nearly so well without Mr. Jobs' Fabulous Hype Machine backing them up.

Take the quintessential example, the iMac. Unveiled as a total surprise to just about everybody, the iMac sent half the Macintosh faithful into paroxysms of ecstasy while the other half hmmm'd about the same "drawbacks" that had plenty of pundits predicting the little blue guy's spectacular and utter failure. But Jobs harnessed the momentum and the leverage of the enthusiastic half to make the iMac Apple's most successful product introduction ever-- despite the lack of a floppy drive, legacy ports and slots, and darn near any existing peripherals that could actually connect to the thing. Neat trick!

So now what everyone's waiting to find out is, will Apple be able to top itself with the iBook? We won't know for sure until the thing actually ships, but early signs indicate that Apple's poised for greatness. The massive amount of media attention is sparking tremendous interest in the iBook; positive coverage in both the computer-centric and the mainstream media constitute a ton of free advertising, and even the negative reviews are kicking up controversy that will sell more units. (Remember, there's no such thing as bad press-- so thanks, John Dvorak, for helping to keep the iBook in the public eye. According to Apple Insider, pre-orders for the iBook are skyrocketing, with CompUSA (who recently announced a "de-emphasis" on computers) reserving 50,000 of them. And now that over 800 Sears stores constitute another place for consumers to buy, the iBook just might turn out to be a stellar sales success.