Coming soon to a Best Buy near you... the iPhone 3G. We’ve already got iPods being sold at Target, and Shuffles are available in vending machines.  Good grief, where are Apple’s products going to pop up next?

Gone are the days when you could only get Apple products from Apple stores or (going back even further) little “Certified Apple Retailer” stores run by true Mac geeks. I suppose it’s all for the better.  It probably makes the second step to recovery (from PC usage) an easier one.  (The first step, of course, is admitting that you have a PC.) But it’s still alarming to see an iPod in a shopping cart along side a 36-roll pack of toilet paper and various Archer Farms snacks.

Is it a sign of the apocalypse or an image of paradise found? It really makes the mind reel to think what partnerships might be in the works next.

On the road again... So you’re driving out on Interstate 50, “the loneliest road in America”, and what do you see?  Nothing.  And what do you hear?  Not much on the radio, and dammit you don’t have your iPod with you. What are you going to do? Then you see it... oh thank heaven! 7/11! The future demands that “convenience” should include being able to purchase an iPod Touch with that Cherry Coke/blue raspberry Slurpee. Pick up an FM transmitter, download some songs from the iTunes store and that road just got a lot less lonely.

I’m leaving on a jet plane... But forgot my MacBook. It could happen, and if Apple and those “newsstands” that are in every freakin’ airport could get together, there would be no need to fret. Just pick up a new MacBook on your way to the gate and MobileMe will make your new Mac feel just like the one that got left behind.

Free me... Remember when you could win iTunes songs by carefully unrolling the lip of your Slurpee cup from 7/11? People crab about the prices of Macs, but Apple is not completely resistant to the idea of giving stuff away. A collaboration could benefit both companies. Take for instance the Cracker Jack box. When was the last time you got some thing other than a small color picture of a muskrat or a temporary tattoo of Sailor Jack? Let’s say Apple throws in a year’s subscription to Mobile Me... yeah, that temporary tattoo was pretty cool, never mind.

A is for Apple... Okay, how about cereal boxes? Putting iPhones inside the boxes would definitely create a stir, but would inevitably result in the Lucky Charms being locked up in the glass case with the Patron Silver and the fancy cognacs.  Maybe they’ve still got some first generation iPod nanos lying around.

I believe the children are our future... Every child needs a Mac and every child loves a McDonald’s Happy Meal. It’s a natural combination. Sure it may bring up the price of that hamburger and small fries, but a nice Mac mini thrown in as the prize would have all the kids screaming, “I’m loving it!” Perhaps a series of accessories like keyboards, mice, and monitors (in gender specific colors, of course) could be collected with the meals as well.

I’m gonna git you sucka... It’s Friday night at the arcade. Your date stops at the Skill Crane and stares at the purple unicorn sitting on the top. Maybe you try it a bit, maybe you just buy your date a horse-shaped mylar balloon with hearts in it’s eyes instead. But just think, if there was an iPhone in that Skill Crane with a year’s contract with AT&T paid... well, NOW how many dollars would you feed into that machine!

Change happens. Is the idea of an iPod vending machine on every corner or MacBooks available at your local Piggly-Wiggly, an Apple fan’s dream come true? Or is it the nightmare that haunts the die hard Apple fanatics? iPhones at Best Buy?  Why not. We’ve got our favorite ways of purchasing Apple products, we're sure you do too. Chances are, it's not going to change that much. But, if we came across that Skill Crane...