Apple short of iPods for holiday season

Yesterday, I took a visit to my local Apple store, surprised by how crowded it was in there, it seemed to be the most crowded store in the entire mall. Anyway, I saw the new “iPod Express Line” in person, pretty much amazed by it. I actually used the iPod Express to buy 2 iTunes gift cards, and it seemed to be working very nicely. There are two employees at the desk, with a nice 30″ cinema display showing the instructions for ordering an iPod. Behind the two employees, is another desk that has every (or almost every) line and color of iPod available. The two employees have a “handheld cash register”, you just hand them your credit card and they will swipe it through this PDA-like machine. They handle all of the paperwork on this tiny screen, usually asking for your email and zip code.

But some people in the iPod Express Line ended up walking out of the store empty-handed. I listened to people ask for the 2GB Nano, and the employee had to tell they were out, and that the 4GB Nanos were going fast. Now, I just saw the Online Apple Store say that the 1GB iPod Shuffles are now sold out for the holiday season.

Ships: Currently Unavailable

Sold out for holiday.
Expected availability mid-January.

Is this a sign of a new Shuffle in Macworld? Usually when the Online Apple Store is sold out of a product or extends the amount of days for shipping of a product, that usually means that Apple is soon to replace it. The Online Apple Store says that the 1GB will not be available until Mid-January. That sounds pretty fishy to me, how about you? It could possibly be a smaller-sized Shuffle with 2GB and 4GB storage, but lets just wait and see.