The world's smallest digital music player. That's how the first line in the description of the iPod Shuffle reads.
With the storage capacity of 1GB and the possibility to wear up to 240 songs, the iPod Shuffle has been loved by customers all around the world even before it was launched.

The reason why it became so popular, so fast, is mainly that it's only 1.62 inches long (that's 4.11 cm) and weighs about half an ounce (around 15 grams). It is a wonderful little thing that looks good on everything and everyone, especially ladies dressed in tight clothes with no pockets. It's as discreet as it gets and I bet it will look awesome clipped on an elegant evening gown.

The new "trend" in digital music players has been introduced during Apple's media event that took place on 12 September and then, the ship date was said to be in October.

Sadly, this ship date has been pushed back as the purchase demand on this player is extremely high. Not only the "shopping season" is almost upon us, but this "must have" gadget that was loved and cherished by everyone since it was a rumor costs only $79 and an impressive number of preorders have been placed in the last month.

An exact date has not been officially confirmed, but Apple retail store employees have been told not to expect shipments until mid-November; says CNET.
At the same time, on Amazon, the shipping estimate was updated from November 25 to December 9 for preorders; according to thinksecret.com.

This delay represents the second shipping estimate miss for October.
The new Intel-based Xservers should have also been shipped this month but has been delayed to November. These delays determined some readers to wonder if it's a quantity or a quality problem? (Natan from thinksecret.com)

If it is a quantity problem, then the delay is understandable, but if it's a quality problem, Apple should just get everything fixed and ship some good quality products like they usually did.
If the iPod shuffle is not as good as they say it will be and turns into another fiasco like the 13-inch MacBooks, then they will have to loose more than their pride.

Meanwhile, other readers reported that they received notices from Apple that their iPod shuffle orders will be delivered sometime next week and although this suggests that the shipments will not be delayed too much, this initial supply could very well be extremely tight when comparing to the demand.