So I just happen to be at the local mall to pick up a tux for a friend's wedding, and I figure, "Hey, let's wander up to the Sears computer department and check out the iGoods." Way back when Sears jumped into the whole iMac game, I recall finding a lovely blue iMac prominently displayed on a shelf at the end of the aisle, clearly visible and drawing the attention of anyone shopping for home stereo equipment, TVs, refrigerators, or washer/dryers. It was then that I had high hopes for Sears' re-entry into the Mac sales family-- and I was especially confident once Sears broadcast its own commercial pushing the iMac. I figured the Sears deal was a Good Thing™.

Sadly, Good Things™ often don't last very long. When I returned to that same Sears a few weeks later, the iMac no longer had the sweet end-cap position; a bulgy Compaq unit had taken its place. Instead, the iMac was relegated to the main computer aisle, all the way at the far end; unless you were looking for it, you probably wouldn't ever see it. So of course I was a little wary when I rode the escalator upstairs yesterday, in hopes of finding the iBook on display. I glanced towards the formerly-iMac-inhabited end-cap shelf, only to find-- a CD player. Not a computer in sight. Puzzled, I walked up and down the aisles for a while, trying to find where the computers were. Eventually I found them, lining up along one side of a single aisle. The iMac was still on the far end, and this time it was off. Then again, so was every other computer on display, so I suppose I shouldn't feel like the iMac was particularly misused.

Sighing, I did another walk of the aisles, trying to find any sign of an iBook. What I finally found was another end-cap display, this time at the end of the next aisle, far from the madding crowd. Sitting on the shelf on the left side was a little translucent document dispenser bearing the Apple logo in Tangerine, about half-full with iBook brochures. On the right was another document dispenser bearing the slogan "Intel Inside" and filled with Pentium III brochures. And smack-dab in the middle was a Compaq Presario 1685 notebook computer, complete with an Intel mousepad. And that, faithful viewers, is how the iBook is represented at our local Sears. Raise your hand if "Eeeyeew." So much for Good Things™...