Some financial analysts have forecast that Apple will sell 4 million of the market-leading devices in the current quarter, double the number it sold in the previous period, when they accounted for 23 percent of the California-based company's overall revenue. The paper reports Apple as saying it was largely prepared to meet the demand, noting it was more likely that consumers would find the iPod they wanted at a retailer rather than at online stores such as Amazon.com.

While the iPod mini is still very popular - there was a six-week wait when they were first available - it's the 20-gigabyte iPod that's topping iPod wish lists this year, analysts said. The 20-gigabyte iPod costs $US299 and can store as many as 5,000 songs. Apple executives on its most recent conference call told analysts that the company was not experiencing widespread component shortages that had hurt supply in the past and that production volumes were improving.