5GB iPod: EOL'd and On the Way Out?


The AppleStore (US) shows no stock available for the 5GB iPod, either PC or Mac versions. Meanwhile, French site MacGeneration reports that the 5GB iPod is "temporarily unavailable", with a stock interruption implicit from the notice up on the Apple Store France MacGeneration reports that unavailability of the 5GB iPod affects several countries, including the US, France and Switzerland.

Note that unlike the usual '2-3 weeks' delivery time for models about to be replaced, it is not possible to order the 5GB iPod in either the US or France from the AppleStore currently.

Analysis: The online Apple Stores appear to all be out of stock. It's unknown how inventory is out in the retail stores.

This doesn't mean, necessarily, that there will be a revved iPod, but it's possible with new 40GB super-slim hard drives that the 20 will become 40 and the 10GB down to $299 as the new base model. It would be nice if Apple would keep the 5 GB around and drop the price to say $249 or even $199, but Apple may opt to keep its margins and just move the products down to existing price points.

Of course, there's another explanation: the 5GB models have all been sold to Michael Dell...