View this article at: http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/08/02/ipod.shuffle.sales.slow/
Thursday, Aug 02, 2007 5:55pm
iPod shuffle sales stagnant in Taiwan
Sales of iPod Shuffles are finally hitting a wall in Taiwan, according to a report from DigiTimes. Competition has come in the form of cannibalizing gray-market iPod Shuffles built in Hong Kong and cheap MP3 players from non-traditional brands. Pricing is a major factor: Apple Taiwan charges about NT$3,000 (US$91) for the 1GB iPod Shuffle, but prices of gray-market models are about 10% lower and 1GB MP3 players offered by questionable brands sell for as low as NT$800. Though Apple does not break down individual model sales in its quarterly reports, overall the company moved 9.8 million iPod units in its fiscal third quarter, representing $1.570 billion in revenue -- a year-over-year unit increase of 20 percent, but a sequential decrease of 7 percent in unit shipments.