iSuppli.com has estimated that the new 8GB iPod nano has a bill of materials at $43.73. This is the second-lowest BOM of all members of the iPod line. Only the 4G generation product had a less expensive BOM, at $40.80.

Instead of piling on features, as so many brands do with their latest products, Apple with the sixth-generation iPod has maintained or even removed some attributes in order to fit the form factor and function desired,” said Andrew Rassweiler, director and principal analyst and teardown services manager, for iSuppli. “This has enabled Apple to offer the smallest iPod including a touch screen, while keeping component costs to a strict budget.

The physical design of the Apple iPod Nano has bounced around from a thin ‘tongue-depressor’ form to a deck of cards and back to a thinner but more curvy media player with its familiar click wheel. However, the new sixth generation made clean design break and dropped a physical click wheel and went for a touch screen similiar to Apple’s iOS devices.

Sorry for the Staples commercial reference, I still have nightmares of that guy saying, “Wow! That’s a low price!”