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Retail moves suggest new iPods are coming

Yet another sign that new iPods are around the corner has arrived in the form of inventory moves at Apple's retail partners.

Tom Krazit Former Staff writer, CNET News
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Google, as the most prominent company on the Internet defends its search juggernaut while expanding into nearly anything it thinks possible. He has previously written about Apple, the traditional PC industry, and chip companies. E-mail Tom.
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Several new iPods might be ready to join the iPod Touch, seen here, by the end of next month. An almost sure bet? A lower price for the iPod Touch. CNET

Apple's global stock of iPods is dwindling, in line with widespread expectations that the company will introduce new models next month.

AppleInsider brings the latest news suggesting new iPods are around the corner, this time pointing to a switch in the status of various iPod models from "active" to "discontinued" in Target's inventory-management system. That suggests that new models are coming to take the place of the old ones, since it doesn't seem very likely that Apple is getting out of the iPod business.

One almost sure bet for September--which has seen an iPod event take place each of the last three years--seems to be a cheaper iPod Touch. With the decision to subsidize the price of the iPhone to $199, the iPod Touch seems a tad expensive at its current price of $499 for the 32GB version.

But rumors have also surfaced of a redesign for the iPod Nano, and Wall Street analysts expect Apple to double the capacity of the iPod Shuffle, according to AppleInsider. In any event, expect fire-sale prices on iPods over the next couple of weeks as retailers get rid of their existing inventory ahead of the new introductions.