Apple delays world iPod Mini launch

Can only make enough to satisfy US buyers

European and Asian music fans hoping to get their hands on Apple's iPod Mini sooner rather than later are going to be disappointed. The Mac maker today admitted that it has delayed the portable music player's debut until July - three months after the original April ship-date.

The delay comes just days after the company admitted its dual-processor Xserve G5 server will not ship until April - two months later than planned.

Apple blamed the iPod Mini set-back on the high level of demand for the product it has experienced in the US. All five versions of the multi-coloured iPod Mini went on sale at 6:00pm Pacific Time on 20 February.

We have received numerous reports of iPod Minis arriving in stores and selling out almost immediately.

US customers have been so keen to get their hands on the 102g, 9 x 5 x 1.3cm player that Apple has already reached its end-of-June sales target. It hopes to ramp up its manufacturing in the July quarter, the company said, enabling it to begin selling the product overseas.

Unlike the iPod, the iPod Mini trades storage capacity for size, offering just 4GB of hard disk space. It's only $50 cheaper than the 15GB iPod, but unlike the slightly more expensive version is pitched against solid state digital music players which offer a much higher cost-per-megabyte ratio.

The iPod Mini works out at six cents per megabyte - solid state players, though cheaper, typically come to over 60 cents per megabyte. ®