Think of it this way-- at least red's a festive holiday color. Yup, Apple's 10-K filing with the SEC last Friday predicted poor sales and revenue through at least March, implying that the red river of loss will rage on through Q2 of 1998. So much for the profitable fourth quarter of '97; given Apple's predictions, a news.com article says that actual performance in the first half could be "dismal." Why such poor performance? Apple blames it in part on the fire sale closeout prices of the very clones it killed. More cake? No thanks, I had a big fat helping of poetic justice for lunch...

Not that we don't agree that the clone market was hurting more than it helped, but still... there's something perversely satisfying about this turn of events. Don't get us wrong-- we'd much prefer a profitable Apple; but if they didn't expect fire sale clones to kick them in the proverbial knees in the short run, their forecasters are even worse than legend holds.

The clones aren't the only factor, however. Apple's own direct sales effort is still locked in a price war with its own dealers, some of whom recently decided to decline co-op funds in order to sell Macs below the Apple minimum advertised price. Club Mac, for instance, had its best month ever, by selling systems at over $100 less than the Apple price. Apple's weapon in the price war was a free Quicktake 200 digital camera-- although faithful viewer Eric Yang notes that the promotion is no longer available from the Apple Store. Is that a good sign or a bad one?

Despite the negative report, it's not the end of the world. 10-K reports always look on the dark side of life, and things may not be as bad as the picture Apple painted. Sales in the dealer channel, at least, climbed to 5.4%, up from 2.8% in July. That's something to cling to...