Apple has finally announced its UK launch date of July 24th for the iPod Mini. The iPod mini will come in five shiny different colours, each with a capacity of 4GB sufficient for around 1,000 AAC or MP3 encoded tracks. Other features include 25 minutes anti-skip protection, 4.25cm display, wired remote and battery life of up to eight hours playback. The player weighs just 108g with dimensions of 9.1cm x 5.1cm x 1.3cm.
The long delay was due to the lack of 4GB miniature hard dries. It is not clear who is providing Apple with its miniature 4GB hard drives, but since Hitachi have started boosting production of these same 4GB hard drives, it seems this may be Apple's supplier. Quakester2000 submitted the following news quote via our news submit :
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Originally scheduled to ship this past April, the iPod Mini's release outside the US was last March delayed until July. Apple's reason: all the Minis it could make were needed to satisfy demand in America. That's certainly true, but the true cause was more fundamental: Apple couldn't make enough Minis because it couldn't get enough hard drives to fill them. The day after Apple announced the delay, Hitachi said it was doing its utmost to boost production of its 1in 4GB hard drive. Coincidence? Neither company will comment, but it's no secret that the Mini uses a 1in 4GB hard drive and - thanks to at least one user's dissection of the device - that its supplier is Hitachi. Readers report that iPod Minis are still proving hard to find in the US. As per the US release, UK buyers will get a choice of five pastel shades: silver, gold, blue, green and pink for the £179 they'll have to lay out for the player. |
With the standard iPod doing extremely well, it will not be surprising if the iPod mini's sell out the day of their launch or even pre-ordered to the point where none make it to the shelves. Style, compactness and capacity seem to be the main selling points for the iPod series despite lacking other useful features such as radio, recording, removable battery and mass-storage capabilities that most competitors have.
The iPod will go on sale in the UK for £179 and in Ireland for €269; both prices including VAT. For more information on the iPod Mini, check out Apple's iPod Mini introduction here.
Source: The Register - Mobile Devices
