Is this supposed to be a bad thing - or even a surprise - that somebody is making money on those little trinkets?
Still, it's not near the 50% gross margin the article tries to imply. They might be getting 15% but I doubt the cut for the rest of the supply chain leaves them even that much. The real money is in the content people (or more likely, their parents) buy and play on them. After they saturate the market that will pay for the little gadgets they'll start giving them away.
Jobs doesn't agree. Jobs has said that apple makes next to no profit from iTunes and that the majority of profits from the iTunes/iPod combo come from the iPod side.
Besides the article is little more than a tease to get people to buy the full report on the iPod nano for ~495.00. IOW it is an ad. :)