Apple re-schedules mini iPods for world release 24 July

Mini iPod music players have been slated for global availability from 24 July, Apple in the US has announced.

The new Apple iPod mini was delayed in late March after US consumers bought the smaller version of one of the company's biggest recent hits in droves.

Apple has claimed the 102g iPod mini is the smallest portable music player capable of holding 1000 CD-quality songs. The company has high hopes for what it trumpets as an “ideal combination of ultra-portable design, style, song capacity, ease-of-use and audio performance”.

Steve Jobs, CEO at Apple, claimed Apple's iPod range – which resembled portable cassette players or CD players but enabled recording and playback of digital music files such as MP3s -- had “changed the way people listen to music”. “The iPod mini has been a smash hit in the US,” Jobs said in a statement.

iPod mini has an aluminium casing in silver, gold, pink, blue or green and Apple's Click Wheel system for one-handed operation. It has the same user interface as other iPods, and works with Apple's iTunes digital jukebox software.
 
iPod mini would be available via Apple's onliine store and Apple resellers for $399 (RRP). The bundle included earphones, a mini Power adapter, a 1.2m 30-pin to FireWire cable, a 1.2m 30-pin to USB 2.0 cable and a CD loaded with iTunes 4.6 for Mac and Windows.