"Okay, what did I miss today?" asks faithful viewer Paul Greatbatch. "Why is Apple heading south while Microsoft is heading north?" Well, Paul, we're going to assume you're referring to the stock prices of those two companies, and not to some grand scheme of mass physical migration to which we're not privy that involves Apple pulling up stakes and relocating from Cupertino to Tijuana even as Bill and the gang bail on Redmond and plunge across the border into Salmon Arm, British Columbia. Either that, or NAFTA's about to wreak total havoc with our knowledge of high-tech geography.

We can't say much about MSFT, but AAPL definitely did take a nasty dip today-- down $1.71, which is almost enough to make skittish investors such as ourselves start nervously eyeing the window hasps on the upper floors of tall buildings. We, too, were puzzled, as we hadn't heard any nasty news that might send Apple's stock price sharply lower, so we went digging around for the dirt that just nuked our paper gain as our mind reeled with the possibilities. Did Steve Jobs just quit his post at Apple to go raise sheep in the heartland? Has he been extradited to Peru to face trial for rude public actions with a melon? Did he wake up with a tummy ache after ingesting one too many Tofutti Cuties? What?

And then we saw it: a CNET article reporting that Merrill Lynch opened its big yap about how "shipments of new flat-panel iMacs could fall short of estimates" due to alleged "production problems in Taiwan." It seems that Lynch's sources are claiming that Apple's iMac production numbers for February will be "between 5,000 and 10,000 units," which, when combined with the estimated 5,000 iMacs that Apple cranked out in January, leaves a biiiiiig gap to fill in March if Apple plans to meet Lynch's forecast of 200,000 units by the end of next month. Here's another way to think about it: if Apple will really only have produced at most 15,000 iMacs by the end of this month, it will have filled only 10% of the preorders it had hauled in by the end of January. Wuh-oh.

So what's the hold-up? More messed-up Apple logos? Not so, says Lynch: "We are hearing that there could be some radiation problem with the product, which we think could partially be the reason for manufacturing issues." A radiation problem. Great. Now there's a QA problem for the record books. So, what, now Apple's getting all squeamish about shipping Macs that may slowly turn their owners into drooling, puffy-fleshed mutants with weeping sores and eyes on stalks? Man, talk about your classic overconcern for your customers; ask any poor shmoe still waiting for the iMac he ordered early last month whether he'd rather have his system now or if he'd prefer to wait until Apple can make one that won't turn him into a giant flying turtle beast, and we'll bet you ten to one he'll say "Gamera me!" C'mon, Apple, ship those puppies; what's a few extra limbs between friends?