So tomorrow is iMac Day-- but where are the iMacs? That's the question on the minds of several Apple resellers, who got all gussied up and ready to party, only to find that the guest of honor never showed up. Reports from the field indicate that several retailers didn't receive the iMacs they were told to expect, and still others received far fewer units than they should have. MacInTouch confirms this, stating that small resellers won't receive any iMacs at all until next week. And as for larger resellers, one CompUSA representative reports that his store-- a large one in a major metropolitan area-- only received 23 iMacs for their opening day supply. Sounds pretty low for a major product launch.

We at AtAT got a slightly different story when our small dealer called tonight, saying we should phone them tomorrow morning before driving the two hours to pick up our pre-ordered system. "Why?" we asked, trying to ignore that sudden sinking feeling in our stomachs. "We've hit a little snag," said he. It seems that their shipment of iMacs never showed up at all. According to them, when tracking the shipment, they found that it was last seen in Chicago, but nobody knew where it went after its brief stint in the Windy City. Hmmm, could it be a far-reaching and diabolical conspiracy to prevent AtAT from receiving its office iMac? Or worse still, what if Apple is in cahoots with the shipping company to cover up the fact that the iMacs were never shipped out at all? Naaahhh...

If the reports we're getting aren't just isolated incidents and are instead symptomatic of a huge supply problem, then Apple may indeed have shot itself in the foot on this one. There isn't much point in spending millions of dollars to hype the biggest product introduction in the company's history, and then not introduce the product. Does the phrase "PR Disaster of Biblical Proportions" mean anything to anyone? Again, we're keeping our fingers crossed that these are just isolated cases, but we suggest you all prepare for some sparks to fly just in case. And here's hoping that Apple's current production estimates-- 8000 iMacs a day, every day-- are close to the mark.

UPDATE: Things are looking up! The iMacs showed up at our New Hampshire dealer's doorstep at 3 AM this morning, so we're off to go pick up ours this afternoon. And reports from the front (read: various CompUSA's) have been uniformly negative on the availability issue, but overwhelmingly positive when it comes to customer reaction to the demo models. This just might be big, people. More when we receive our iMac and get it set up...