Supplies of Apple's lowest priced iPod, the $49 iPod shuffle, are temporarily dwindling as shipping times on Apple's website drop to 7 - 10 days and Apple Retail Stores run out of stock around the country, reports 9to5Mac.
According to multiple sources, supplies of the iPod Shuffle are dwindling across Apple’s physical retail and online channels. In fact, Apple has warned its retail employees that Shuffle supplies will be short for an unspecified period of time and that customers seeking to buy a Shuffle via a retail store should be directed to Apple’s online store.
The other two iPod lines, the nano and touch, aren't seeing the same dwindling of supplies as they both display 24 hour shipping times and are available now in most of Apple's retail stores. It's unclear why the shuffle is seeing supply problems, but one possibility is that Apple is seeing a temporary shortage of iPod shuffle components, impacting the company's ability to make new iPod shuffles.
New York City appears to be the city mostly suffering from the iPod shuffle shortage, while the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and Chicago seem to have a sporadic number of stores without any stock.
Apple hasn't updated the iPod shuffle since September 2013. In early 2014, CEO Tim Cook said that the iPod was a "declining business". In September 2014, Apple discontinued the iPod Classic due to the difficulty in purchasing parts to manufacture it and a shrinking audience for the device.
