SAN FRANCISCO (Business 2.0) -- Apple announced Wednesday the first major overhaul of its popular iPod music digital players in nearly two years.</p> On top of iPods with more storage and bigger screens, Apple (down $2.62 to $141.54, Charts, Fortune 500) rolled out the iPod Touch, a slim, WiFi-enabled device that's similar to the company's new touchscreen mobile phone, the iPhone. </p><div style="max-width: 220px; margin-bottom: 10px; clear: right; float: right; margin-left: 10px"><div class="IErow" style="width: 220px"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="220"><tbody><tr><td align="center"></td></tr><tr><td align="left" valign="top"><span class="captionname">Apple CEO Steve Jobs speaking Wednesday in San Francisco, where he announced a major revamp of its iPod music players.</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div id="quigo220"><div id="ad-401110" align="center" style="border: 0pt none ; margin: 0pt; padding: 0pt"> cnnad_createAd("401110","http://ads.cnn.com/html.ng/site=cnn_money&cnn_money_position=220x200_ctr&cnn_money_rollup=technology&cnn_money_section=quigo¶ms.styles=fs","200","220"); </div></div></div> Apple also announced a new version of its iTunes music store that will allow users to buy songs wirelessly. iTunes will also sell customizable 99-cent ringtones for the iPhone.</p> CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the new features and a new partnership with Starbucks (down $0.24 to $27.48, Charts, Fortune 500) at an invitation-only press conference held in San Francisco.</p> To date, Apple has sold more than 100 million iPods, but sales have been drifting since last year's holiday shopping season and profit margins are shrinking. </p><div class="inStoryHeading"> Live blogging the event </div> Jobs also announced a new version of the classic iPod. With a full metal design and thinner than its predecessor, a new $249 model comes with 80 gigabytes of storage and 30 hours of audio. A slightly thicker model will have 160 gigabytes of storage and retail for $349.</p> "This boggles the mind," Jobs said. He pointed out that the original iPod could hold up to 1,000 songs. Today, an iPod can store 40,000 songs. </p> The new Nano, meanwhile, will have video and a larger, brighter screen with an interface similar to the iPhone. Apple will also bundle three games into the new Nano, including Sudoku from Electronic Arts.</p> The new Nano will feature two memory sizes: A 4-gigabyte model for $149 and an 8-gigabyte model for $199. It will be sold in black, red, silver, blue and green. </p> Jobs said the new Nanos should be in stores by this weekend.</p> As for the iPod Touch, it will come installed with the Safari Internet browser and, like the iPhone, play YouTube videos.</p> Wednesday's announcements come more than two months after Apple took on mobile phone giants Nokia (Charts) and Motorola (Charts, Fortune 500) with the iPhone, a touchscreen-only device that retails for $499 or $599, depending on the amount of memory.</p> Apple has said it expects to have sold one million iPhones by the end of September. Research firm iSuppli reported Tuesday that the iPhone outsold all other smartphones in July.</p> </p> </p> ___________________________</p> Awesome!</p> -Petey </p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gambitnut)</div><div class='quotemain'>So, these are iphones that don't make phone calls?</div></p> And a smaller screen.</p> -Petey</p> </p>
I owuldnt waste my money on it, just yet. Every brand new gadget always has somehting wrong with it when it comes out. I suggest wait a few months and then get it, that way you wont have to hassle with a broken ass iPod.
I might be in the market for a new MP3 player soon...leaning towards the larger 'classic' ipod. The touch one is cool, but I'd rather have more space to hold music.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Petey)</div><div class='quotemain'> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gambitnut)</div><div class='quotemain'>So, these are iphones that don't make phone calls?</div></p> And a smaller screen.</p> -Petey</div></p> Same size screen [3.5 in.] and it's thinner. I'm a bit disappointed, overall. No HDD [20GB at least for $299], no camera, no maps, no notes, no IM feature, etc. I may buy it, as I have yet to buy an iPod, but it's not a great deal at $299 for 8GB. </p> </p>
They should have made the classic iPod's widescreen. Very disappointing. </p> iPod Nano got a similar screen update, so the "classic" should have too. </p> No wireless card in the touch ones, so you have to be in a hotspot, which is also disappointing. No camera...very disappointing.</p> Definitely do not buy the touch one. Go for one of the classics. </p>
The Touch has a pretty high cool factor and that is the only reason people buy iPods when they can get superior Cowon or iAudio products. I might get it, but like I previously said, I'm pretty disappointed, though I don't really mind only 8GB since I don't really need to have my entire music collection on there, nor do I need more than two movies on there at a time. Still, I would have liked to see a SD card slot, a 32GB flash, Maps, Notes, and IM.
