According to AppleInsider, the smallest member of the iPod family, the Shuffle, which was released to the public at the beginning of November, is seeing huge demand in both American and European Apple markets to the point that Apple can’t even keep the miniaturized player on its own shelves.
The 2nd generation Shuffle is one cubic inch in size and weighs in at about half an ounce, more than half the size of the 1st generation iPod Shuffle. It has a new aluminum design with a built in clip, has up to 12 hours of battery life and can hold about 240 songs.
Apple confirmed that it and other stores carrying the device were quickly being wiped clean of its stock. Currently Best Buy has shuffles available, but Target is reporting that consumers can expect a minimum of a two week delay on all orders. Amazon.com, the largest internet retailer, is also currently out of stock but is partnering with its affiliate Blue Proton and its stock to get shipments out. The catch is that when you purchase the shuffle through Amazon/Blue Proton expect an extra $30 added on to the original list price of $79. Consumers in the European market can expect a 5 day interval between the placement of the order and receiving the shipment conformation instead of the usual 24 hour conformation.
As a result of extremely high demand, Apple is expecting sales for the Shuffle to hit between 6 to 8 million units by the end of the quarter and is clearly its unexpected best seller. The flourish of activity regarding the new Shuffle is certainly a factor contributing to Apple’s record closing high of $85.61 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
The sparked interest in Shuffle has created quite a stir on Amazon.com’s Best Sellers list. Currently, members of the Apple iPod family hold 7 of the top 10 spots, and make up the first 5 spots on the list as well. The top ten lists is as follows:
- 1. Apple 30 GB iPod video Black
- 2. Apple 2 GB iPod Nano Silver
- 3. Apple 1 GB Shuffle Metal
- 4. Apple 80 GB iPod video Black
- 5. Apple 4 GB iPod Nano Pink
- 6. SanDisk Sansa M240 1 GB MP3 Player Silver
- 7. Apple 4 GB iPod Nano Black
- 8. SanDisk SDMX4-2048 Sansa e250 2 GB MP3 Player with SD Expansion Slot
- 9. Apple 8 GB iPod Nano Black
- 10. Creative Zen Vision:M 30 GB MP3 and Video Player Black
As a result of these enlightening standings, one Mac-loving individual might ask themselves, “Hm…Where is Microsoft’s Zune, the infamous ‘iPod killer’?†Well have no fear ladies and gents, we have those stats as well! Sadly (for Microsoft), its black Zune topped at #19, the doody brown Zune appeared at the #50 spot and the white Zune is resting at #74.
One word folks: OUCH!
