Meanwhile, don't forget that Panther isn't the only thing that Apple has promised by year's end; even as the market for Windows-compatible digital music download services strives to redefine the phrase "obscene glut," it seems that the only company who doesn't have an offering ready or imminent is the company who started the whole tussle in the first place. Meaning, the iTunes Music Store is still Mac-only, and while every company from Head & Shoulders to Red Lobster has an online music store poised for launch, we still have no release date for the Windows version of the iTMS any firmer than "by the end of the year."

Back to AppleInsider, then, who claims that iTMS for Windows-- also known among the Jedi as "Dark iTMS"-- is "ahead of schedule" as far as development goes, with "anonymous reports" indicating that "active online functionality of the Windows store was in place as of this past weekend." That would certainly imply that the sucker is ready to roll, at least from a technical standpoint. So what's the holdup, you ask? Well, our own gut feeling is that Apple still hasn't settled on which metal to brush ("aluminum is so played out; how about tungsten?"), but AI claims that Dark iTMS might be Apple's "Hey, look over there-- it's Elvis and the pope, and they're playing ping-pong!" factor for its quarterly earnings conference call next week.

See, apparently Apple "is widely rumored to post a shortfall in revenue due to Power Mac and PowerBook shipment issues throughout the fiscal quarter," so the company needs to keep some sort of major distracto-bomb up its sleeve to run damage control on the lousy numbers. So the plan at this point seems to be to post the disappointing quarterly results on the 15th, wait a little while to let the press get the gloating out of its system, and then win 'em all back to the side of fawning sycophancy with a whiz-bang rollout of Dark iTMS "by month's end." Indeed, the announcement could come as early as the day of the earnings conference call itself, if the numbers stink really bad.

This is all just speculation, of course, and the real holdup of the Dark iTMS launch could be something completely different, such as a crippling psychological reluctance to release anything so cool for a platform with the style and grace of an elephant in a lime green short-sleeve suit trying to tap dance while its legs are asleep. (Still, our money's on the tungsten.) One way or the other, though, Dark iTMS is coming, and probably sooner rather than later. Time to record that secret holographic plea for help in a nearby droid and kiss your home planet goodbye...