Apple Computer has ceased to accept orders on PowerPC-based 17” iMac computer in its online store. This essentially means that the company no longer produces such product and the only possibility for those who would like to get one is to purchase from stores who still have iMac G5 in their stocks.

Currently Apple Computer does not list its 17” iMac G5 in its online store, but can sell 20” iMac powered by 2.1GHz IBM PowerPC 970FX processor for a reduced price of $1499. Users who would like to obtain 17” iMac computer should get Intel-based iMac featuring Intel Core Duo 1.83GHz chip that contains two processing engines.

Earlier this week it was revealed that Apple did not have enough 17” iMac G5 computers to fulfill the orders, possibly, due to low inventory levels, which observers explained by Apple’s intention to get rid of the G5-based computers as quickly as possible. In effect, the 17” iMac G5 was claimed to have been shifted to end of life status that explains their reportedly insufficient availability. Later during the week Apple slashed the pricing on higher-performance 20” iMac.

Another report claimed that sales of all Macintosh computers tumbled following announcement of the first Macs featuring Intel Core Duo processors. The reasons for slowed-down sales of Macintosh products were predicted back last year: performance of software originally developed for PowerPC-based computers is not high on the new machines since the programs run using emulation software, but not a lot of consumers want to spend their money on the Mac G5 machines that are set to face end of live in several months time and which are already slower in some applications.

It is highly-likely that Apple will try to sell-out the existing G5-based computers that compete internally with Intel Core Duo-powered as quick as possibly.

Apple did not comment on the news-story.