Only four months after its launch, the iPod shuffle has cornered 58 per cent of the US market, Apple announced today.

The shuffle, a flash-based mp3 player which plays songs in a different order every time, has been a huge success despite widely publicised shortages.

Apple group CFO, Phillip Oppenheimer, is confident the company can now continue dominating the music download market, despite the “threat” posed by mobile phones. 

He cited the superior interface and long battery life as the iPod’s main strengths

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