iPod's still the favourite this Christmas

Let's face it; they're a fashion icon. They do what George Michael does to drugs, or what Amy Winehouse does to drugs music. It's glamorous, just looking at one. To own one, may be a very simple pleasure, a very simple process and a very common thing to many people who own one. They're not encrusted with diamonds (often) and not exclusive to the Royal family alone.

I bet even Jesus has an iPod. You should hope so; it was his birthday after all.

Oh no, anyone can get one, and in this day and age with price cuts and a recession in full swing (not as brilliant as it sounds, actually), there's no reason why you can't stretch your pennies to getting one. After all, they cost pennies to buy nowadays.

For many, yesterday brought us something special; an iPod. The scrabbling around of wires and cables, booting up computers and getting iTunes downloaded and installed, the credit card gets mauled, and the iPod gets satisfied with thousands of music files.

The graph to the right shows the fiscal sales of the iPod. As you can see (and from a credible source being Wikipedia; I hope the slight sarcasm is noted), there's a slow but obvious increase in sales up until this summer just passed. Q1 of 2008 shows the most iPods being sold, in excess of 21 million, most likely due to the post-Christmas sales. The same shows from the year before, Q1 of 2007 shows a slight decrease.

With VAT cutbacks in the UK, and a recession in full swing in the US, it's no wonder why so many people are going out to buy this fantastic accessory. The discounts, the added accessories; it all adds up to the iPod being another favourite for those this Christmas.

For those buying first-time iPods can be an exciting time, but many are upgrading to the newer models. I only recently joined the ranks of the iPod army by getting myself a 4G iPod nano, which has had me in awe of this fashion concept. Many are throwing out (hopefully recycling) their old devices in favour of the next generation iPods.

Has this been an iChristmas for you? TalkBack; I could do with the conversation, if I'm honest.

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