Well, we suppose that in this economy it was inevitable; by this time, any tech company that hasn't laid off a sizeable chunk of its staff simply doesn't have any staff left to cut loose. There are notable exceptions, of course, such as Apple-- whose CFO Fred Anderson clearly stated last January, "We are not planning an across-the-board layoff... we don't want to mortgage the future." With over $4 billion in the bank, Apple appeared to be in a solid position to ride out these tough times without going crazy over pink slips like Compaq (5000 jobs cut), Dell (4000), Gateway (3000), and Hewlett-Packard (3000).

There were rumors that Apple did quietly lay off the Cube development team a few months back, but Steve Jobs expressly denied that claim, despite Apple's official policy of never commenting on rumors. And we've heard rumblings of scattered pink slips in the support department, but never anything widespread (or, indeed, even confirmable). The fact is, if Apple has laid some people off, it's hardly the sort of panicked, emergency cost-cutting bloodbath that seems to be all the rage in the rest of the tech sector. Still, when faithful viewer Wayne Parkhurst informed us that Apple is cutting jobs in its iServices division, we admit we got a little nervous.

As it turns out, we probably shouldn't have. While CNET reports that Apple has confirmed the job cuts, we're only talking about "a small number" of positions that were eliminated "as part of a restructuring of its iServices consulting unit." Elsewhere in the article the number of lost jobs is referred to as "a handful." And given the relative obscurity of the iServices group (we're betting many of you never even heard of it before now), a restructuring there hardly constitutes cause for widespread panic. Apple's official spin on the sitch is as follows: "Apple continually reviews its business to ensure we are operating at maximum efficiency. As part of this ongoing evaluation, we have restructured the iTools/iServices group to more effectively run our business and serve our customers." That sounds reasonable.

Still, glass-half-empty people that we are, despite our every logical impulse, we're probably going to be edgy about looming Apple layoffs for the forseeable future. Call it an addiction to drama, but even when Apple's stock quadruples, jobless rates are at an all-time low, and Alan Greenspan is spotted dancing on Wall Street and singing "It's Raining Men," you can bet we're still going to be wondering when Steve's going to reach for the little hammer to break the glass on the Emergency Pink Slip Book. But, of course, rational Apple employees have little reason to worry. So just let us stew on our own.