As reported earlier today, shares of Apple rose to their highest level in nearly four years ahead of the launch of the HP-branded iPod and Apple’s revamped iMac. “Tomorrow you’ve got HP doing their consumer electronics launch and the HP iPod launch, and next week there’s the introduction of the new iMac,” said Shannon Cross, an analyst at Cross Research. “Apple is in the middle of a huge product launch. Even if they have issues with availability of chips in the near-term due to IBM, there’s remarkable demand. Obviously, at some point the chip issue is going to be resolved and you’ll be left with a good amount of pent-up demand.”