Following up on yesterday's Teenage Mutant Ninja iMacs revelation, whether the hitch is indeed a "radiation problem" (as Merrill Lynch contends) or some far less interesting issue, it's pretty clear that, for whatever reason, iMacs just aren't flying off the production lines like they should. Anecdotal evidence from out in the field suggests that LCD iMacs are harder to find than a dachshund packin' heat-- and what with dachshunds being noted for their non-violent natures and their lack of opposable thumbs, well, those iMacs are pretty scarce indeed.

Not that this hasn't happened several times in the past (heck, it was practically mandatory as far as new PowerBooks were concerned), but it's starting to look like Steve was being just a mite too optimistic when he announced those ship dates last month. Yes, Apple did indeed manage to ship the high-end SuperDrive model (well, one or two, anyway) by the end of January, as Steve had promised. But as for his expectation that the $1499 combo drive model would ship in February, the latest evidence (i.e. the fact that Steve is now mere hours away from flipping his Dawson's Creek calendar over to March) suggests that he may have been ever so slightly off.

Worse yet, MacUser has the latest skinny on the missing iMac syndrome, and because of unspecified "serious problems on the production line" (use your imagination; "Good lord, that wiener dog's running around loose-- and he's got a semiautomatic!"), apparently Apple has been quietly "warning dealers to expect virtually no mid-range and low-end models until April." Given that Apple's revenue estimates were based on shipping substantial numbers of all three models this quarter, if two of the three barely even make a token appearance until April, that Q2 balance sheet might turn out very ugly indeed. Because of this, according to MacMinute, Credit Suisse First Boston has followed Merrill Lynch's lead and warned its investors that Apple's iMac shipments this quarter may fall short by as many as 100,000 units-- so Apple might be in for a bit of a black eye when the analysts hear some sad quarterly revenue figures come April.

Of course, it's entirely possible that none of this Wall Street malarkey means squat to you, and all you want is to buy one of the elusive little critters. (iMacs, that is-- not analysts, or gun-toting wiener dogs.) Well, we did a quick poke around, and it's true that very few places seem to have them in stock; even our local Apple retail store is cleaned out and the waiting list is reportedly "wicked long." But we found that at least one Apple store claims to have them in stock and ready to take home tonight, so if you're persistent, success is within your grasp. Because, you know, opposable thumbs.