Analyst Ben Reitzes of Lehman Brothers noted to clients this week that the 8GB iPod touch is currently showing a shipping delay of 1-2 days on orders made on the online Apple store.

The analyst suggests that supplies are likely to be strained due to the current back-to-school promotion, which gives iPod touches away to students for free when buying a Mac.

The analyst also reports that Best Buy has seen reduced supplies of 16GB models, Reitzes offers no explanation to why this could be but does suggest that Apple needs to take action on iPod prices to realign with the iPhone 3G.

“We believe Apple will need to reposition the iPod touch product by September now that the iPhone acquisition price is lower,” the analyst notes in the report. “We expect the iPod touch to experience significant cannibalization from lower-priced iPhones.”

According to Reitzes Apple’s wider iPod sales are faring better than expected, and current data suggests that iPod sales could climb by two percent year over year through early June where they were estimated to have dropped by the same amount.

He adds that his previous estimates of 9.5 million iPods sold in the quarter could be “conservative”.