We seem to recall some nasty rumors right before the iMac's original launch in August of last year that Apple was experiencing quality control nightmares not previously seen outside of the horror film genre. Tech pundit Robert Cringely was claiming that he somehow had knowledge that Apple had an out-of-box failure rate of 11% for iMacs rolling off the line just prior to release. That made us a bit nervous, we admit. Remember, the iMac represented Apple's potential salvation-- quite possibly the company's last chance to escape a horrible sinking death. An 11% out-of-box failure rate would likely have sealed Apple's fate.

As it turns out, of course, the shipping iMac's failure rate was much, much lower-- low enough that we heard very few reports of DOA iMacs, and we certainly never read about massive quality problems in the press. Without reports of system failures quelling sales, the iMac's space-egg looks and ease of use propelled it to superstardom in the annals of computer history. It was (and continues to be) popular enough that even the Wintel industry, who derided the iMac's design when it was first unveiled, eventually decided to "borrow" elements from the iMac in hopes of capturing a bigger chunk of the consumer market. But unfortunately for them, quality problems do seem to be plaguing at least some of the iMac-inspired competition.

Faithful viewer Marc Blaydoe notes that the latest edition of Spencer F. Katt's Rumor Central contains an interesting tidbit on Gateway's new all-in-one systems. Rumor has it that the Astro isn't just butt-ugly-- it's also a "support nightmare." Says Katt, "Users, even tech-savvy buyers, are having major configuration problems, resulting in a high percentage of on-site support calls and equally high return rates." Of course, this could turn out to be no more true than Cringely's old rumor about the iMac's failure rate, but the big difference here is that the Gateway systems are shipping now. Apparently when they borrowed the iMac's all-in-one design and USB-only expandability, Gateway may have forgotten to copy one of the iMac's most important features: its ease of use. D'oh!