Severe iPod shortages plague New Zealand, Australia (but Creative players are plentiful)
Monday, November 28, 2005 - 09:46 AM EST"A severe shortage of Apple’s iPod is frustrating resellers as they struggle to meet consumer demand this Christmas," Kate Palmer reports for New Zealand Reseller News. "'The queue is getting longer and longer so the message to consumers is buy now and don’t delay,' says Steve Ford, general manager Renaissance Apple division. Ford says supplies for the video-capable 30GB and 60GB iPods are good but admits his company is desperately trying to fulfil demand for the iPod nano. 'We’re fighting as hard as we can. I’m expecting some product to come through in the next week but I can’t make any promises after that.'"
Palmer reports, "New Zealand stock is supplied from Australia — also facing a drastic shortage. Ford says Apple didn’t give resellers any prior warning when launching its newest iPod range in October and that has contributed to the shortage. 'The main factor is this huge demand. Last quarter Apple sold three times as many iPods as it did during Christmas 2004,' he says. And although Ford is issuing no apologies for the situation he does thank the channel for an outstanding year."
"Set to benefit from the shortage is rival MP3 maker Creative," Palmer reports. "Victor Ho, Morning Star group product manager, says Creative is benefiting from the situation to a certain degree. 'No doubt about it, this is going to be an MP3 Christmas. The real growth started about six months ago and we have absolutely no stock issues,' he says."
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews reader "Bruce" for the link.]
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MacDailyNews Take: Imagine that, Creative has "absolutely no stock issues." Those poor bastards ought to change the company's name from "Creative" to "Scavenge." Imagine getting a lump of Creative in your stocking in lieu of an iPod for Christmas? We see the same packages of Creative product on store shelves week after week. The only thing that changes seems to be the amount of dust on them. How many Creative mistakes will be returned worldwide and replaced with iPods in the days after Christmas this year?
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Bloody Apple. My kids are already wanting to trade up after just a year with the Mini. What are they doing to us!