Apple's iPod nano a holiday hit

Apple Computer Inc.'s sleek iPod nano music player was among the top-selling electronic items on Amazon.com on Friday and some models sold out on a top retailer's Web site as consumers stocked up on holiday gifts on one of the year's busiest shopping days.

Apple's black iPod nano with 2GB of storage, or enough to hold 500 songs, was the sixth best-selling electronic gadget on Amazon.com's list of most popular items, which is updated hourly. A white version was No. 10 on the list. Amazon was selling the nanos for $199.88.

Retailer Best Buy Co.'s Web site was sold out of both the white and black versions of the 4GB nano priced at $249.99. And the nano wasn't the only popular device. A spokeswoman for the retailer said Best Buy limited the number of connections to its site due to heavy volume related to the launch of Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 video game console last week.

Best Buy was the retail launch partner for the new Xbox.

Apple has sold more than 28 million iPods since they were introduced in 2001, helping revive fortunes of a company that was increasingly dwarfed by Microsoft Corp.'s dominant Windows desktop operating system. Apple has about 75% of the worldwide market for digital music players, according to market research firm NPD Group.

Apple introduced its credit card-sized nano in September to replace the iPod mini, which was then the best-selling iPod version. Tim Cook, Apple's worldwide head of sales and marketing, last month called demand for the nano "staggering."

Apple shares have traded at a premium to other computer makers due to the iPod's success.
An Apple spokeswoman was not available for comment on the iPod sales.