Apple.com: 1GB iPod shuffle ‘unavailable, sold out for holiday, expected availability mid-January’

Now seen on Apple’s U.S. online store:

iPod shuffle 1GB.Currently Unavailable. Sold out for holiday. Expected availability mid-January.

Apple’s online UK and Japan stores also list the 1GB shuffle as “Currently Unavailable.”

Currently, the Australian Apple online store lists the 1GB shuffle as, “Estimated Ship: within 24 hours.” So, Aussies, get them while you can!

The 512MB iPod shuffle is still listed as available with shipping times of 1-2 business days, at the most, on all online Apple stores we checked.

MacDailyNews Take: Mid-January is post-Macworld Expo, so the chances of seeing iPod shuffles as they exist now probably aren’t good. Do you think, as we do, that this portends a new iPod shuffle slated for Macworld debut?

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45 Comments

  1. Maybe they’re just going to remove it from the lineup. I mean, 1/2 GB, 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB. That’s four players under 5 GB capacity. Or maybe Apple will rerelease it in different colors. Or maybe it will be able to fly, it’s all just speculation now.

  2. It has been a year since introduction so a new version makes sense. I can’t imagine it getting any smaller so the capacity must get bigger and maybe a slight price drop just the keep the “competition” behind.

    MW = size, as in size does matter in the MP3 market.

  3. Apple Store Sweden has these shipping time right now:

    iPod Shuffe 512Mb = 24 hrs

    iPod Shuffle 1Gb = Sold out for the Holidays and we hope to have supply again later in January.

    iPod nano 2Gb = 2 days

    iPod nano 4Gb = 2 weeks

    iPod 30 & 60 Gb = 3 days

    So are there high demand or short supply of 1Gb and 4Gb flash memory?

  4. I think they should offer a low end, small storage version for something like $60 or $70…maybe not make any money on it…but easily accessable to most, and then get the entire planet into the habit of using itunes…the future hub of all legal media. Make is so easy for everyone to get in the game…then most will upgrade at some point.

  5. I was in a big chain electronics store in Germany yesterday and noticed lots of people around the MP3 players section. No one was looking at iPods. I wondered why. I asked the clerk – no iPods available – sold out over a week ago.
    Lots of sales missed I fear.

  6. Another holiday season and Apple reaps of the benefits, figured they would have known this was coming and kept a stockpile of all ipod though for the circumstances. But oh well. Truth be spoken, Shuffle sucks. I have no idea on the planet why someone would want a MP3 player that plays random songs over. I take my sony MD, or Ipod out for a walk or run (Sony comes for active stuff, those things can take a beating I’ll tell ya) and the urge comes to listen to “A SONG” I wanna be able to get it right away, not shuffle through my entire library to find it. But to each their own I guess, there are always freaks out there who want an iPod and will buy anything with the name on it to feel cool.

    MW: shuffle (as in shuffle the deck of cards and cut an ace this time instead of a two)

  7. Shuffle could use a solid mockup yes, but i think we have something else to look forward to outside US after the MacWorld Expo ´06. And that would be TV-shows. See, i have this theory that ABC i currently syncronizing the LOST episodes all over the world and the question is why?… I can only think of one reason. iTMS will deliver tv-shows, at least the ones running in the respective countries by January 10.2006 around 18:45 hours.

    The reason behind this speculation is purely the delays between episodes of LOST, only in the US. Meaning the rest of the world will catch up!

    Yes, You may call me crazy…

  8. MacTypeDude

    The iPod Shuffle is the best of its kind for working out. Its features/size and a good arm band keep the music coming and the player out of the way. For this purpose it trumps the Nano and the video iPod (hard drive based – more likely to skip). Both of these are too big/uncomfortable to carry around while you lifting weights or running.

    While I’m working out or running I don’t need to stop what I’m doing so that I can find a song so shuffling is perfect.

  9. In-defense of the shuffle, I use one exclusively for running and working out. I also have a 30g iPod to tote the entire collection around.

    I have the Shuffle load from a playlist of high tempo songs. I’m not interested in finding “a song” while running, just want lots of motivational music!

    The Shuffle performs very well. If you need a MP3 player which holds more than ~250 songs or you need to always find a specific song, then the Shuffle is simply not the right iPod for you. Luckily for you, Apple is glad to sell you 2 other iPods which will fit those needs well.

  10. Who said anything about stopping? Thats the joy of buttons and display screens, keep on going, change the song, and keep on goin! Everyone is different and has their own choice in what they want though. I am speaking purely from my own preferances. Everyone says size matters, which is true. Yet it only matters to a point. Once something attains a certain small size, anything beyond that is purely just for the sake of having something smaller. You could put two cigarettes beside it each and call that the size of one, then someone else markets one the size of one cigarette. Really, makes no difference, but again, purely from my own perspective and preferances. Would be a boring world if we all wanted the exact same things.

  11. Hi-tech stuff … and you can shuffle the shuffle — according to a source in the highest levels of gov’mint. With that kind of endorsement, how could this not be anything but a hit.

  12. I agree that the shuffle works great for active sport applications.
    The one design it has that I really like is the raised volume un/down buttons,
    They make it easy to feel in your pocket, and push up or down
    without even looking. A great feature when riding your bike.
    I have not found this easy to do with the Nano, so I still use my
    shuffle a lot more than I thought I would since I got a Nano when
    they came out.

  13. Look for a new design and black options will be added.

    Funny didn’t we jus tread 3 weeks ago how bad this was selling and how Apple will be dropping.

    Journalist’s can say the dumbest things.
    Obviously the shuffle is selling well because it’s affordable for the tween market and when they get older they upgrade to a Nano.

    Apple needs to have a $99 product. Any chance they get screens and a name change? YES, it will happen
    sources tell me. Very exciting even though I still want a NANO.

  14. Apple always does this, they use both the holiday season and “back to school” season to clear out soon to be old stock. As a matter of experience, I now always wait until after Macworld (Jan.) and the “back to school” season to buy Apple products. That’s when they’re the freshest (pun intended).

  15. piot said: “Rob Enderle …… right on the nose……again!

    “no one really wants the iPod Shuffle””

    ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”LOL” style=”border:0;” />

    Wonder why MDN keeps carrying that turds comments and giving him hits?

    ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”raspberry” style=”border:0;” />

  16. Tom:
    But all Apple products have different varieties of appeal. Now THAT’S a pun!
    Straight to the core. Seed what I mean? Enjoy the fruit of their efforts from where it stems. (No Malus intended.) You can be on one cider not. Pie-in-the-sky promise for the others. But shake your pom-poms if you appreciate a slice of the good life! Who’s your Mac Daddy now ? ! !

    (Everybody do the iPod Shuffle! Jump to the left. Thumb on the wheel. Jump to the right. Everybody squeal!)

    ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”cool grin” style=”border:0;” />

  17. The store I work at is sold out of Nanos and iPod 5G, but we still have new and refurb shuffles. The shuffle is a steady seller, not spectacular. I use mine when riding the bus and it’s a handy little tool for moving files from place to place.

  18. I was at the Apple Store in Santa Clara on Friday – as close to Cupertino as you can get. As I was waiting in line a guy asks for a 4 gig Nano. The Clerk goes to the iPod express section, comes back and say they’re completely sold out of the 4 GB nano. The customer shrugs his shoulders and says well give me a 2 GB instead! He didn’t care – just wanted whatever he could get.

    It’s great that these units are in such demand that they sell out. But it’s also bad that Apple have not been able to meet the demand because every extra million of pods sold add another 0.2 billion in sales. And if customers have to choose the cheaper option instead they are losing extra revenue that way too.

  19. I was in the Apple store in White Plains NY today and:
    one: the store was filled with customers and had checkout lines surrounding the perimeter of the store
    two: they had cases of video iPods and 4 Gig Nano’s in stock. It took me five days to get my video iPod from CompUSA after I paid for it in advance.
    Guess I should have went directly to the Apple store.
    Looks like they’re keeping the stock for themselves.

  20. Brad, “record” is the word that belongs in brackets. Where is the g5, or “fast” laptop, a mini that is competitive with dells low end, or an ad campaign? I ignore as much of the world as anyone, buds in ear, but still I know that apple gave up on computers while ago.

  21. Ampar, “pom-poms” are big gun pairs on naval battle ships. The word you want is “pompons,” the streaming paper balls that cheerleaders wave around.

    Is anybody else getting pop-ups here? Just got one for a free XBox – ugh! Hello MDN, what’s going on?

  22. well Ben, you better hope that no one from Apple reads your posts and figures out who you are. last time i checked Apple employees are not allowed to post on any Apple related forums.

    so im guessing that you either A: dont work for Apple and just stopped in and saw that they were out, or B: are currently looking for employment

  23. I was at an office party where they had shuffles for door pizes, 512’s in fac. Everyone jumped at them as if they were Nano’s. This is an office of Techies, everyone knows the limits of the Shuffle but still wanted one. They make great thumb drives and the added music is bonus. My wife uses hers at the ym because its so durable, her 30 gig 5th gen is used in the office and at home.

    Hanz und Franz – a shortage keeps them begging for more. if someone buys a competitor they usally upgrade to an iPod, or wish they had.

    MDN – got, as in GOTta have it.

  24. David.. dude!! Apple give up on computers?! They are on the largest thresh-hold they have ever stood in as we speak. Half the world is stting on their couches saying to each other “So apple is gpong to have intel chips, like my M$ windows machine does from dell. Hell now that I actually know something about them that I already trust I might go get one!” While the other half is going “Man I hope apple doesn’t f**k this up, there is obvious potential in the move, but I really hope it works the way its supposed to”. Pretty much everything for Appl is on hod for the computer market right now, and suspence is one of Steve’s best marketing approaches. We wait, make expectations, and he meets them. But this time, a new market will opn for him. I guarantee, AL OF YOU watch, Intel chips, means more switchers. I trust Apple enough to know that what they bring out will be the usual kind of product we have all grown to expect from Apple, nothing less, maybe a little bit more ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />

  25. Neomonkey:

    Thanks for the attempt to enlarge my knowledge base but the words are synonymous. Cannon bursts and those cheery tufts share a certain shape with mums and throw in a little onomatopoeia for good measure. But alas, you missed the best part. The pun connection between pom-pom (or pompon) and pomaceous. That was the original intention. I sit uncorrected.

    pom·pon, also pom·pom
    n.
    A tuft or ball of material such as wool or ribbon, used as a decoration, especially on shoes, caps, or curtains.
    A small buttonlike flower of some chrysanthemums and dahlias.
    pompom A ball of fluffy material, such as feathers or strips of colored paper, that is waved by cheerleaders and sports fans.

    [French.] (Oh, those poetic French.)

    pom-pom

    \Pom”-pom`\, n. [Imitative.] A Vickers-Maxim one-pounder automatic machine cannon using metallic ammunition fed from a lopped belt attached to the gun; — popularly so called from its peculiar drumming sound in action. Sometimes, any of other similar automatic cannons.

  26. uncle bob: reach for your glasses, you old fart! I said “I work near the Bluewater Apple Store” not for the Apple store.

    Ampar: thanks for the quotes from the dictionary. Now look up the word “tam pon” which should have your picture next to it.

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