Hey, speaking of those flat-panel iMacs, at this stage of the game we think we need to consider upgrading the rumors to the status of Cold, Hard Fact. After all, everybody knows that the further a rumor spreads, the truer it obviously must be; that's the Golden Rule of Rumordom! So, applying that metric, there's no longer any reason to doubt the advent of the new iMacs this January, because for reasons completely beyond our ken, suddenly everyone is talking about these things; what used to be the exclusive domain of a handful of Mac rumors sites is now showing up at such "mainstream" tech media outlets as CNET, WIRED, and Silicon. Heck, we're even pretty sure we heard Regis talking about it while we were flipping channels this morning. (Actually, now that we think of it, that was likely a hallucination brought on by not following our own advice of "never eat anything that's been in the fridge since the Johnson administration"; Regis doesn't usually have six eyes and antlers, does he?)

To be honest, we do know why January LCD iMacs are suddenly "news" and not just "rumor": you can blame it all on Morgan Stanley. Faithful viewer Rooser notes that a couple of Morgan Stanley analysts just issued a report bearing something resembling actual evidence that flat-panel iMacs are imminent: CNET says the analysts report that Apple "has placed component orders for producing 100,000 15-inch flat-panel iMacs per month, starting in January"-- though, of course, "specific product details are shrouded in secrecy." Personally, we're not sure why Morgan Stanley's "supply contacts" are to be trusted any more than the "sources close to Apple" who feed sites like Mac OS Rumors and The Register. And even if we do believe them, what components are necessarily specific to an LCD iMac? The 15-inch screen? Couldn't Apple just be looking to produce more 15-inch Apple Studio Displays?

Whatever. Whether Morgan Stanley's right or not, following the release of that report, the LCD iMac is now mainstream news; it's not just for breakfast anymore. And Wall Street is paying attention, if AAPL's climb today is any indication. That potentially paints Apple into a nasty corner, because now if the company doesn't produce the goods in January, it faces another "fans weeping as they leave the auditorium"-style letdown like last summer's Stevenote, and no one wants that. Which means that Morgan Stanley may really be onto something, because while Apple has that whole "we don't comment on unannounced products" spiel, it did come right out and admit that there would be no new hardware at the last (scheduled) Apple Expo in Paris, just to keep people from getting their hopes up.

So what are we to conclude by the utter lack of a "no new hardware" press release now that everyone's all primed and ready for a January iMac announcement? After all, we're guessing that expectations are now at least as high as they were back in August. We're going to stop short of claiming that this is proof undeniable that LCD iMacs are a mere month from release, but if you were to draw that conclusion entirely on your own, we doubt anyone would blame you...