I'M THE IPOD GIRL

(..but I'm too poor to buy an iPod)

THE dancer whose silhouette has helped sell millions of iPods admitted yesterday: "I can't afford to buy one."

Mandy Coulton, 26, was paid less than $1,000 to pose for Apple's hugely successful ad campaign.

But the Los Angeles-based model said she's too poor to buy one of the mini digital music players.

She said: "At the time, $1,500 seemed a lot of money. But now my picture is everywhere. I would like one - but $400 for an iPod is just too much for me.

"I can't justify spending that much money when I have day-to-day stuff to pay for, like the car and the rent.""

Mandy was one of 10 models chosen to front the campaign launched in 2003.
But her pose - in a striped bikini top and jeans with the iPod's distinctive white headphones against her blacked out body - is the most successful.

The pocket-sized player can hold up to 10,000 music tracks. It was created by Apple's British design chief Jonathan Ive and first became available in 2001.

But it took another couple of years before sales exploded. By June this year 15 million had been bought. Even the Queen of England is said to have got one after playing with grandson Harry's.

Apple has also invented the iPod mini - cheaper than the original at $199.00, and smaller shuffle version which starts at $99.00.