With the release of the iPod Nano, Apple again sparked intense excitement among enthusiasts and reasserted its dominance in the digital-music-player market.

In fact, Internet search behavior data indicate excitement around Apple's iPod Nano surpassing that of last year's iPod mini promotion, putting the sleek device on track to become the hottest gift item for 2005.

According to web monitoring firm Hitwise, US searches for 'ipod nano' surged 133 per cent the week ending September 24 versus the week of the product launch (week ending September 10), and the market share of total Internet visits to the Apple Web site (www.apple.com) skyrocketed past peak levels during the 2004 holiday shopping season.

"The iPod has consistently been one of the most searched for items on the Internet in the past year," said Bill Tancer, general manager of worldwide research at Hitwise.

"The share of searches on the iPod nano has eclipsed any other iPod product in the past year, suggesting that the consumer love-affair with the iPod has been reinvigorated with this product introduction."

For the four weeks ending September 24, 52 per cent of Internet searches for the term "ipod nano" directly resulted in a visit to the Apple site (www.apple.com) or Apple Store (store.apple.com). The term benefited other retailers as well, directly driving traffic to: CircuitCity (3.3 per cent of all visits), Amazon.com (1.76 per cent) and Just Discounted.com (1.5 per cent). Among all US Internet searches during the four weeks ending September 24, the term "ipod nano" ranked number 110.

Visitors to the Apple Store were 53 per cent male, and 31 per cent were in the 18-24 year-old age group for the four weeks ending September 17. Claritas PRIZM NE segmentation data show that Internet users residing in the urban social groups "Urban Uptown", "Midtown Mix" were 43 per cent and 37 per cent more likely to visit the Apple Store in that same period. Those groups are comprised of middle and upper class residents of densely populated urban areas.