After clothes, money and a car, an iPod is what U.S. teenagers want most this holiday season. A survey of 600 high school students by Piper Jaffray & Co. analyst Gene Munster found Apple Computer Inc."s digital player No. 4 on their wish list. And the iPod wasn"t even among the items Munster suggested -- the kids wrote it in. "It was really surprising,"" said Munster in an interview from his office in Minneapolis. ``They didn"t say music player. They said iPod. Teens want to be cool, they want their music, and the iPod is a cool way for them to get their music.""
Demand for the iPod, unveiled by Chief Executive Steve Jobs in October 2001, has helped make Apple the third-best performing stock in the Standard & Poor"s 500 Index this year. A surge in iPod sales will help Apple report a 25 percent gain in fourth- quarter sales, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. The results, slated to be released Oct. 13, would be the fifth straight period revenue growth exceeded 15 percent.