Lots of chatter over at AppleInsider where they are
reporting that shipments of iPod Minis have come to a screeching halt. Stores, People, everyone who’s expecting one is
in for some bad news. With all the talk of static and headphone jack problems, people are not waiting for Apple to
connect the dots for them.
“Since soft metals such as aluminum
easily deform, repeated pressure on the case — from inserting and removing the headphones, attaching it to a belt clip
or an arm band — creates tension in the connecting pins. Eventually, the pins get loose resulting in that scratchy
“mini hates me” sound,” Irakli Loladze, an iPod mini owner, explained on a personal website dedicated to the
issue.
Without attempting to pour salt on an already exposed wound, sources have begun to speculate that Apple may be
using the world wide availability warning as a cover. “There is reason to believe that Apple is buying some time while
engineers rapidly work to correct the exposed design flaws,” one source said. “Further shipments of minis prone to such
issues will only amount to unallocated repair costs for units still under warranty from Apple.”