iPod shortage around the US?
updated 06:05 am EST, Thu December 16, 2004
iPod shortage
An in the The Wall Street Journal today says that iPods are becoming scarce at retailers around the country. The report says that Amazon.com, Buy.com, and other online retailers are now out of stock and "Apple is contending with what appears to be an immense demand for the gadget," and it suggests that Apple is dealing with manufacturing and distribution constraints due to the iPod's 'near-cult status.' Consumers are buying iPods faster than they did the Sony Walkman by its sixth year, and analysts expect Apple to sell more than 4 million iPods this holiday season. 'To try to meet the high demand, we're making and shipping iPods as fast as we can,' Apple said in a statement. 'So, if one store has run out, you may find iPods in another authorized iPod reseller.' iPod minis are selling for as much as $380 ($130 above retail) on eBay's auction site." [subscription required]
Cults
12/16, 10:40am reply
Why do writers bend over backwards to apply the "cult" label to anything Apple, even when it doesn't apply?
Supplies of the iPod aren't constrained because of its "near-cult status", it's because the iPod is highly popular.
Few cults are highly popular. Those that become popular get another name (like, say, christianity).
SomeToast
Senior User
Joined: Jan 1999
re: christianity
12/16, 11:34am reply
hahaha that was funny. as a christian i resemble that remark! as a non-practicing chrsitian i can laugh at that remark!
as for ipod cult status, at around 4 million sold, does that qualify for cult status? especially since that number will be around 8 million in 2 months. i also read some analysts expect 25+ million to be sold in 2006. that's a hugely popular cult. almost as popular as xenu. (anybody get that reference?)
cmoney
Dedicated MacNNer
Joined: Sep 2000
Again...
12/16, 12:18pm reply
Didn't this same thing happen last year? Boy am I glad I picked up my mom's mini a month ago :D
dootbran
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jun 2002
Hmmm...
12/16, 12:50pm reply
The most popular gadget on everyone's wish list sold out a week before Christmas? Wow! Hard to imagine!
I think that reporter is on to something - popular gift items are sold out when Christmas is almost here. What a discovery!
hayesk
Professional Poster
Joined: Sep 1999
Stop being so myopic
12/16, 03:45pm reply
Cult can also be used to describe obsessive devotion or veneration for a person, principle, or thing. Look it up in the dictionary.
Unregistered Us
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Dec 2004
Cult? Walk around NYC...
12/16, 07:36pm reply
If you spend any time wandering the streets of New York City, you'll see iPods EVERYWHERE!
Every generation. Every mini color. White earbuds and cable everywhere. On the street, in almost every store. On skaters, cyclists, on buses, trains, subways... EVERYWHERE!
It's phenomenal!
If that doesn't qualify as near-cult status, I don't know what does? As a Mac user since 1985, I don't see that as a dig on Apple at all!
JeffHarris
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Oct 1999
FS 1G iPod new battery...
12/16, 10:32pm reply
Has had many rough and tumble falls from breast shirt pocket and many character marks on sides, back, and front...
How does that sound?
Never mind I'm keeping it! I'll see another hooked up under the tree @ my cousins this year, his sister has one already... They're everywhere here in Erie too...
gizmovision
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2002
no shortage in NYC
12/18, 09:02pm reply
I was shopping at the Apple Store in Soho yesterday and they seemed to have tons of iPods of every kind
macuser111
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Dec 2004