Days after the popular Black Friday shopping promotions, Apple's website placed 5th in a ranking of retail site visitors on Cyber Monday. The traffic exceeded 3.6 million unique visitors, marking a 43 percent increase above the daily average for November, according to a ComScore report. The Cupertino-based company was the only computer manufacturer in the top five, exceeding Dell's 2.3 million visitors and HP's 1.9 million visitors. Apple has been known to hold its prices relatively steady, with the most significant discounts offered on Black Friday.

Monday's traffic was lead by eBay, with Amazon, Wal-Mart and Target finishing out the top four. Despite many dire predictions for holiday sales, retail sites experienced a 33 percent increase in overall visitors compared to the November averages, with an additional $113 million in sales above the $733 million on the same day last year.

Reported shortages of iPod models may be an indication that recent sales exceeded the manufacturer's expectations. Amazon.com recently quoted shipping time estimates for the iPod touch that ranged from three to five weeks for some models. In brick-and-mortar outlets, the depletions seemed to be limited to particular colors or storage capacities.

Kaufman still holds a prediction of 21 million iPod shipments for the quarter ending in December, representing a five percent drop from last year's quarter. Despite strong Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, the effect of the economic recession will not be fully gauged until the entire holiday shopping season has past.