Apple is keeping the majority of its iPod inventory for its own retail stores, leaving third-party retailers without an ample supply during the busy holiday shopping season, according to one Wall Street analyst. In a research note obtained by iLounge, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster commented today that Apple appears to not be sharing enough of its iPod supply with its retail partners, as evidenced by a survey conducted over the weekend.
“Over the Thanksgiving holiday, we spoke with 10 Apple stores and MP3 player sales reps at 11 third-party iPod retailers (Best Buy, CompUSA, and Circuit City) regarding iPod availability,” Munster writes.
“As we had expected, we found that at Apple retail stores iPod availability was very high. Specifically, all but 2 of the 10 Apple retail stores in our sample indicated that they had all iPods in stock throughout the holiday weekend.
On the other hand, most third-party retailers in our checks indicated that they were sold out of various, and in some cases all, iPods,” the analyst said. “We believe Apple is channeling the majority of its iPod inventory to Apple retail stores vs.
