Apple's Tiny Big Hit

The funny thing about voicing an opinion is that sometimes you've just got to eat a little crow, and you can only hope that you have some salt and pepper to help the words go down a bit more easily. I might not have been incredibly impressed with the idea of Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL  ) nano product upon launch in September, but preliminary indicators suggest that it's a hot hit for the holiday season.

According to CNET, Best Buy's (NYSE: BBY  ) website showed that it was sold out of both the white and black versions of the music player, and Amazon.com's (Nasdaq: AMZN  ) site showed it among the top electronics sellers as well. (Indeed, the list of Amazon's top sellers has quite a few iPods in it.) The 4-gigabyte nano retails for $249, and the 2-gigabyte version sells for $199.

Perhaps I should have eaten my words last month, when an Apple spokesman reportedly said that demand for the tiny music players was "staggering." Better late than never, I suppose.

Rumors of easily scratched nano screens have apparently stopped no one, and the fact that the slimmer, trimmer nano replaced the hot iPod mini -- a gutsy move on Apple's part, many of us agreed -- also did little to deter the public's appetite, it seems. (I was more excited about the recent launch of the video-enabled iPod.)

One thing I'm definitely not surprised about is that the iPod's domination of the portable-music-player market is obviously continuing throughout the 2005 holiday season. Of course, iPod mania has been matched with Apple shares reaching new 52-week highs. There are strong signs that Apple shareholders will be having a happy holiday season this year ... and will be curious what 2006 will bring.

For more on Apple, see the following Foolish content:

• I couldn't resist describing the wrath of the Apple cult recently.
• Did Apple save the world -- again -- with its video iPod?
• It looks like Apple didn't make a "nano step" after all.

Best Buy and Amazon.com areMotley Fool Stock Advisorpicks. To find out what other hot stocks David and Tom Gardner have selected for the service, enjoy a 30-day free trial. Or, if you like to discuss all things Apple, check out ourApple discussion board.

Alyce Lomax does not own shares of any of the companies mentioned.