You've heard the rumors that Best Buy might be re-entering the Macintosh world, right? Yes, you heard us correctly. And yes, this is the same Best Buy that was the first chain out the door when Steve Jobs started eliminating ineffective national retailers from the sales list a couple of years ago. It's also the same Best Buy that returned to sell the iMac-- only to 1) fail miserably due to sales incompetence, 2) panic and sell them at prices well below authorized levels, and 3) finally bail from the platform again because the concept of stocking five different colors made them squeamish. And yet, we're hearing that they may soon be back on the Mac wagon.

So far there have been two distinct versions of this rumor floating into our inbox. The first states that Apple's decision to sell the iMac base model only in Blueberry is a concession to Best Buy's single-color requirement, and that only the $999 iMac will make it onto Best Buy's shelves. We can sort of buy that. But the second variant is even less believable and contends that Best Buy will soon sell the entire Macintosh line-- Power Macs, Powerbooks, iBooks, and iMacs. We're not ruling out the possibility, but the very idea seems more like the premise for a Silicon Valley horror flick than an actual business plan. C'mon, Best Buy had trouble selling iMacs. We're talking about the hottest computer out there, people. If they couldn't sell iMacs, how are they going to push Powerbooks? If it had an Apple logo on it, the average Best Buy salesperson couldn't sell a glass of water to a man whose crotch was on fire.

And speaking of water, iMac2Day throws cold water on both rumors with its reader report that Best Buy has eliminated all Mac-only software from all stores. This is apparently a high-up corporate decision, folks, confirmed via a phone call to Best Buy's headquarters-- if it's not Windows or hybrid, it's not making it onto Best Buy's shelves. Now that sounds like the Best Buy we know-- and it doesn't sound like a company that's getting ready to start selling Macs again. Then again, if we had to pick a company stupid enough to try to sell iMacs without carrying any Mac software, Best Buy would be at the top of our very short list.