Hard Drive Shortage Behind iPod Mini Delay

Apple Computer confirmed to The Mac Observer Thursday that its announcement in delaying worldwide release of the iPod mini to July is due to a shortage of Hitachi-made hard drives.

“We’re consuming almost all of those drives that are being made,” Stan Ng, Director of iPod Worldwide Product Marketing, told The Mac Observer. “So we’re putting them in iPod minis as quick as we can get them and trying to get them out as quickly as possible.

“The four gigabyte, one-inch drive is a new technology and is really on the cutting edge” he said. “(The manufacturer) is ramping up production to high volumes as soon as possible.”

A Hitachi spokesman confirmed to The Mac Observer that the drive has been in “great demand” and that the company has not been able to make enough of the product. The company said it began ramping up production to higher capacity in the last two weeks and expects to start meeting demand “in the next few months.”

Read more at Mac Observer