“Apple, with its iPod touch, appears a clear winner this holiday season as US consumers shop for smaller, cheaper, more versatile electronics,” Chris Nuttall and Richard Waters report for The FInancial Times.
“While the Consumer Electronics Association predicts flat fourth-quarter sales compared with a year ago, analysts report Apple stores have been the busiest among electronics retailer,” Nuttall and Waters report. “Google has reported the iPod touch is its most- searched-for product after Nintendo’s Wii games console and Wii Fit game, while the Lycos search engine has ‘iPod’ as its top search.”
“Amazon’s electronics bestseller list has six iPods in its top 20, including all three versions of the touch. The most popular is the lowest-priced 8Gb version. It still costs $230, but Michael Gartenberg, vice-president of Mobile Strategy at Jupitermedia, says this is not putting off cash-strapped consumers,” Nuttall and Waters report. “‘In a down economy, people can be willing to spend more on a premium product because they don’t want to make the mistake of buying something that doesn’t meet their expectations or provide long-term value,’ he says.”
Full article here.