The New York Times has this long story on the hot gizmo of the season, the Rear Projection Television. Apparently, these are not the only ones flying off the shelves. Ipod and Treo, two devices that are Must Haves for the digital set are no where to be found.

In Europe, BBC reports the Ipods are sold out.

bq. “We are getting shipments once or twice a week but we are selling them almost as fast as they come in,” Mr Khalfey said. An Apple spokesperson said it was doing all it could to increase production, but the demand meant some people may be disappointed on Christmas Day.The iPod comes in three guises, but Mr Khalfey said the most popular model had been the mid-range one with 20Gb of memory.

In US, try ordering Treo and the wait times are between 2 and 4 weeks. This report says that this is going to to be a jolly jolly christmas for consumer electronics retailers.

bq. “The industry clearly will be better than last year,” said Colin A. McGranahan, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Inc. brokerage in New York. “The expectation was that this was really going to be a blowout season for consumer electronics, but it really is not happening yet,” he said. “My sense is that it will be just a good holiday for consumer electronics retailers.”

Did someone say Santech!

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