by , 11:00 AM EST, March 25th, 2004
If you remember, many, including us at TMO, said that the iPod mini was priced too high. You may also remember our mea culpa when Apple announced 100,000 pre-orders of the iPod the day it was officially shipped in the US. Today Apple announced that it was going to have to delay shipping the iPod mini to the rest of the world due to one thing, and one thing only: The company can't make enough to meet demand in the US. From Apple:
Apple today announced that it is moving the worldwide availability of iPod mini to July due to the much stronger than expected demand in the US far exceeding the total planned supply through the end of June. Apple expects to ramp up its manufacturing of the iPod mini to meet worldwide demand in the July quarter.
"The iPod mini is a huge hit with customers in the US and we're sure it will be the same worldwide once we can ramp up our supply in the July quarter," said Tim Cook, Apple's executive vice president of Worldwide Sales and Operations. "The iPod mini adds further momentum to the iPod, which is already the leading digital music player in the world."
You can find more information on the iPod mini at Apple's Web site. You can order the unit directly from the Apple Store starting at US$249.
While not anything close to a statistically accurate poll, we mention this anecdotal information by way of saying that the iPod mini is beyond hot. Indeed, Apple might well announce sales of the iPod that exceed last quarter's record numbers. That's good news for Apple's bottom line.
Clearly, the iPod mini was never priced too high.