Apple Says Up to 4-Week Wait for IPod Shuffle

It could be deja vu all over again for Apple Computer Inc.

Just one week after it launched the tiny iPod Shuffle, a lightweight and much cheaper model of its market-leading digital music player, customers face a wait of two to four weeks before their orders are shipped, according to the company’s website Tuesday.

The backlog of orders comes not quite a year after the introduction of the iPod mini sparked a six-week wait when ordered online.

There is a two-to-three-week wait for the $99 iPod Shuffle, which holds about 120 songs, while customers face a wait of three to four weeks for the $149 model, which has double the capacity, according to the Apple website.

Apple’s co-founder and chief executive, Steve Jobs, said last week at the company’s annual trade show that the new music players were on their way from factories to Apple’s online store, its retail stores, and third-party retailers and distributors.

All the other iPod models are listed on Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple’s website as available for shipping the same business day as ordered.

Apple has sold more than 10 million iPods since their introduction in October 2001, with sales in the most recent quarter more than doubling to 4.58 million from the previous period.

IPod sales accounted for 35%, or $1.21 billion, of Apple’s total revenue of $3.49 billion in its fiscal first quarter, which ended Dec. 25.