So there we were at a mall on Monday (merely "a mall," as opposed to "The Mall", because "The Mall" lacks a Borders and we had gift cards to burn), doing our President's Day duty by consuming instead of producing, when we decided, hey, let's take a quick turn through the Apple Store-- the miniPods are supposed to be out this month and the month is more than half over, so we've got better than even odds of finally getting to see one of the little pups in person. It was a no-go, of course, but we were gratified to see the store just packed with patriotic shoppers, lines at both registers, and a widescreen iMac being loaded onto a handtruck for its trip down to the parking garage. Oh, and by overhearing multiple store employees tell eager consumers that the miniPods would finally appear this coming Friday.

Not that we had any reason to doubt the truth of what the salesfolk were doling out, of course, just as we had no particular reason to disbelieve a handful of reports that miniPod preorders had already started shipping to some lucky customers earlier in the week, but we're still glad to see Apple officially confirming both facts in one tidy press release. Well, okay, the bit about preorders already starting to ship isn't really confirmed except in the vague title of "Apple Ships New iPod mini" (Read between the lines! It counts!), but the bit about the Friday debut is now etched in stone: miniPods "will be available on Friday, February 20th at 6:00 PM at the Apple Store, Apple's retail stores, and Apple Authorized Resellers throughout the U.S." (Sorry, Europe-dwellers; it's still April for you. But at least the ship date hasn't slid later. Yet.)

And lookee here, sports fans-- there's another tender morsel o' dirt in that press release. If you were one of the Apple-watchers concerned that the miniPod might pull a Cube by garnering all sorts of rave reviews and then never finding its market and selling about as briskly as TiVos to the Amish, you'll be pleased to hear that Apple has racked up orders for 100,000 of them already, and they aren't even in stores yet. Steve apparently wasn't on-hand to give a snappy quote (too busy fomenting revolution at Disney, no doubt), but the ever-lovin' Phil Schiller kindly took the Sound Bite reins to assure us all that "the response to iPod mini has been off the charts." With 100,000 miniPod preorders in six weeks with no retail presence and zero television advertising-- in the month-and-a-half after the holiday shopping season, mind you-- we think Phil's description is probably pretty on-target.

All that's left, we suppose, is to wait until Friday evening so we can check one of the things out up close and personal to see what all the fuss is about; shame we couldn't get one at a President's Day sale price, though. Incidentally, as for the fate of those Borders gift cards we needed to redeem, we feel strangely compelled to wander way off topic to mention to any possible Hellblazer fans out there that buying and re-reading the Original Sins collection of the first nine issues did not make us any less queasy about the fact that Hollywood has decided to turn the incredibly English John Constantine into an American. Living in L.A. Played by, of all people, Keanu Reeves. (Well, if it must be Keanu, at least they aren't making him do his English accent. Bram Stoker's Dracula, anyone?)