As consumers flooded to Apple Inc's retail stores this holiday weekend, the firm's widescreen media player garnered the most interest of all the electronic devices, however the buzz did not translate into strong sales for iPhone's cousin.

A recent retail poll conducted by analysts at ThinkEquity showed that though Apple's iPod Touch - a spin-off fron it's multimedia telephone - piqued the most interest from customers ,in the end shoppers opted for the player's Apple siblings.

Even though iPod Touch generated lots of interest among people, said ThinkEquity analyst, Darren Aftahi, when it came to purchases, they considered Nano given its smaller size and lower price .

The study showed that the Nano and Touch sold at nearly identical rates in Apple Stores, while Best Buy stores surveyed indicated more sales of the former.

Older individuals preferred iPod Touch because of its easy to use touch-based interface and online capability, while the smaller Nano was favored by younger individuals, according to the data.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company first introduced the iPod Touch in September, 8 months after the introduction of the iPhone on which it is based.

Both the Touch and the iPhone devices feature a 3.5-inch color screen capable of playing full-screen video, and both devices can connect to the Internet. The Touch, however, lacks the calling capability of the iPhone.

A lot of consumers seemed to opt for iPhones over iPod Touch because iPhones facilitate all that iPod can do and more, but the opposite is not true, Aftahi continued. Overall, the iPod Touch did drive a lot of customers to Apple stores.

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