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 are Motley Fool Stock Advisor picks. 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 our Apple discussion board .
Alyce Lomax does not own shares of any of the companies mentioned.
