EDITORIAL - Match fit to take on iMac demand?

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs must have breathed a sigh of relief last week. Not because any coverage of Apple's next-generation machine, the iMac, was knocked off the front page by Rupert Murdoch's ridiculous bid for Manchester United and the so-called football club's acceptance of it. No, it was the fact that maybe, just maybe, Jobs has finally got something right.

Normally, if you talk to any Apple dealership, there is a feeling of doom and gloom. For years the Apple community - and it is a community - has felt downtrodden by the strict terms and conditions imposed on it by the manufacturer. But last week, when PC Dealer rang up its usual victims, there was a feeling of hope.

Hope that has not been present in the Apple channel for a number of years and, to a certain extent, a feeling that has not been experienced within Apple.

The iMac is being seen as the saviour for Apple, as well as for its loyal dealers and customers. It has generated an overwhelming demand. There are reports of all of the available stock being sold out within hours, something that not many PC vendors can claim they have actually ever experienced on their hardware. There are not many of us out there who would queue up all night to get hold of the latest UPS or hard drive.

But as with all these things, there is a down side. And one which, I'm afraid to say, Apple is not very good at coping with. And that is keeping up with the demand. When Apple first launched its range of portables, Powerbooks, there was a huge pent-up demand for it, but Apple being Apple could not keep up with it. The same happened again with the G3 products and even the first Power PC models. Surely after all these years you would have thought that Apple would have learnt its lesson.

Well, so far so good, as far as the iMacs are concerned. One dealer claimed he had a few of the boxes left, but not many, and he was reasonably confident that he would get another shipment next week. But there is a cloud building up on the horizon. Distributors are reporting that the stock simply disappears from their warehouses as soon as it is delivered.

Apple needs to sort out this problem as soon as possible before it escalates into the fiasco that occurs every time it launches new products.

Yes, I know that it is hard to predict demand - I certainly wouldn't want to do that job - but Apple must put measures in place that it at least comes close in its numbers. Oh, and by the way Apple, it is worth noting in your diary that Christmas is coming up in three months' time and even I can predict that you will need lots of boxes to keep those consumers happy.

The saga of whether Jobs is staying at Apple will continue for a while, but it would appear that the man has managed to get something right with the iMac. And this in turn will help the fortunes of the Apple channel, which has needed a long overdue injection of good news for some time.

But beware Apple, this is your last warning. There is no way that you will get a second chance with the dealers and consumers if you don't keep up with demand.