Comments about:

IPod mini delayed

It's sad that Apple have messed up so much in their 20th aniversary year! Both of Steve's last two major keynote speeches have actually drawn gasps of disapointment from the audiences due to their lack of content, concentrating on superficial design changes and, in my opinion, gimmicky "lifestyle" software rather than new & innovative products.

The big screw-up was his promise last year for 3G processors in the G5 PMs. He wasn't able to keep that promise & now looks rather foolish, & sales (me for one) will suffer. Combined with the debacle over the iMac production and this rediculous wait for European customers, both for the IMS and perticularly the mini iPods, this has been a very bad year indeed.

Let's hope for better in the remaining months, but I'm not holding my breath.

When the iPod mini was first announced everyone thought it was overpriced by about $50 and wouldn't sell. Everyone claimed Jobs had lost his business sense and this would have been something that could sell.

Well it turns out that they were all wrong. The iPod mini is a big hit. It has taken off and it is still very difficult to get in the US.

Why should it be easier to buy on the other side of the ocean? Perhaps Jobs is underpricing this very hot item.

It is a 4 week delay for everyone, not just Europe. I just tried to order a iPod mini a couple of days ago from Apple's US online store and I was quoted a 4 week delivery date too.

The problem is that Apple can't get the parts it needs. It is a single source supplier and there is nothing they can do about it until the production ramps up to meet demand.

Having such heavy demand for their products that they are having trouble filling orders is a high quality problem but a problem never the less. Hopefully Apple will be able to iron out the parts supply problems.

All I can say though is that I have some apple products and it is worth the wait.

Bah - I *live* in the US; I frequent Fry's, Circuit City, Best Buy, Target and other electronics stores, and I've never even SEEN an iPod mini in a store or in anyone's possession. This "heavy demand" story is wearing a bit thin.

Maybe because the ipod mini is mini
I am ordering one. And also airport express. Finally surround DTS on my mac!!

It's the Hitachi Hard drive stupid. Apple is using all they can get. That means no one else is getting them either. So it's either the iPod Mini or nothing else. The competitors could not handle 1/10th the demand.

I've not only seen minis in the wild, but have purchased one as a gift for my gf. It wasn't a big deal, walked into the Apple Store and they had two colors in stock, one of which was the right color for her.

They sell quick, but they also constantly get new inventory, you just have to get there at the right time on the right day.

I think you are definitely a glass half full person and taking a pessimistic viewpoint from any vantage point ...

From a business perspective ...
It's better to have people clamoring for something rather than like Dell - having so many in the warehouse they have to take a loss on selling it (and of course mailing them in your ipod).

And from a personal viewpoint, doesn't 'scoring/landing' one make you feel even better about your purchase? (not that you shouldn't already be happy).

And right now, there are not a lot of products that you can turn around and sell for sometimes TWICE what you paid for it - if you wanted to ...

This isn't a matter of failed forecasting - simply the fact that they cannot make enough tiny HHD's - and Apple is actually in a great position - when you have a product that is clearly superior - people will wait for it ... and unlike some other companies - Apple hasn't raised the price to gouge people - in fact, the European version is priced lower than the initial announcement!