Apple announced this morning that the iPod mini has shipped. Apple first announced the iPod mini at Januaryis Macworld San Francisco, and since that time the company says that it has received more than 100,000 pre-orders for the unit. The iPod mini has been somewhat controversial, with some criticizing itis US$249 price tag for a 4 GB unit, when for US$50 more, a 15 GB iPod could be had. Such criticism has apparently not been universal, however, as people are buying the unit. From Apple:

Apple today announced that iPod mini, the worldis smallest portable music player ever to hold up to 1,000 CD-quality songs, will be available on Friday, February 20 at 6:00 p.m. at the Apple Store, Appleis retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers throughout the US. iPod mini is encased in an ultra-portable, lightweight anodized aluminum body and available in a choice of five colors -- silver, gold, pink, blue and green. Apple has received over 100,000 pre-orders for the iPod mini which was introduced last month.

Smaller than most cell phones and weighing only 3.6 ounces, iPod mini builds on the success of the original touch wheel with Appleis innovative patent-pending Click Wheel, which combines the ease and simplicity of the touch wheel with five push buttons for precise, one-handed navigation.

iPod mini features the same award-winning user interface as the rest of the iPod family and works effortlessly with Appleis iTunes Music Store*, the worldis number one digital music service, and the iTunes digital music jukebox software for seamlessly buying, managing and listening to digital music collections. iPod mini uses Appleis patent pending Auto-Sync technology that automatically downloads an entire digital music library onto iPod mini and keeps it up-to-date whenever iPod mini is plugged into a Mac or Windows computer.

Pricing & Availability
iPod mini for Mac and Windows will be available in the US through the Apple Store, Appleis retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers on Friday, February 20 for a suggested retail price of US$249. iPod mini will be available worldwide in April. iPod mini comes in a choice of a silver, gold, pink, blue or green 4GB model and includes a belt clip. All iPod minis include earbud headphones, an Apple iPod mini power adapter, a 1.2m 30-pin to FireWire cable, a 1.2m 30-pin to USB 2.0 cable, and a CD with iTunes 4.2 for Mac and Windows computers.

Optional accessories with the following suggested retail prices include the iPod Dock for US$39, in-ear headphones for US$39 and arm band for US$29. Laser engraving is available for iPod mini for US$19 and can include two lines of text with up to 23 characters per line.

iPod mini can be charged with either the FireWire or USB 2.0 cable and gets up to eight hours of battery life**. iPod mini requires a Mac with a FireWire port and Mac OS X version 10.1.5 or later (Mac OS X v10.2 or later recommended); or a Windows PC with a FireWire or USB 2.0 port, or a Windows-certified FireWire or USB 2.0 card and Windows 2000, XP Home or Professional.

* iTunes Music Store open in US only.
** Battery play time and life span vary by use.

You can find more information on the iPod mini at Appleis Web site. You can order the unit directly from the Apple Store.