iPods get total overhaul,add Wi-Fi, iPhone price cut
By Sean P. Aune
Apple has had their media event, and we have all the goods for you broken down by category, so let’s waste no time and get to it.
iTunes - Apple confirmed they are now the third biggest music retailer, beaten by only Wal-Mart and Best Buy. To date, they have moved 600,000,000 songs, an impressive number by any standard.
Now, iTunes can make your ringtones on your iPhone for you. Over 500,000 participating songs can be used as a 30-second ringtone clip with fade-in and fade-out. There is, however, a catch. You must purchase the song and then the ringtone version will cost you an extra $.99. You can make any portion of the song into the ringtone, as was demonstrated by Steve Jobs when he played The Beatles singing “Give peace a chance”; followed by a comment that this is what his phone plays when NBC calls. Ouch.
iPods - To date, Apple has sold 110,000,000 million of their flagship music player. A truly awe-inspiring number for any gadget to sell. As suspected, there was a full line refresh for the music player, and a lot of the rumors we reported were true.
iPod Shuffle - The baby iPod of the line will be getting five new colors one of which as rumored, is the PRODUCT(RED) Shuffle. $79 for the usual 1GB.
iPod Nano - The long-rumored picture that circulated (nicknamed “The Fatty”) was legit. It now will have a larger, brighter display, a full 2-inch screen and will have QVGA resolution. Apple is saying this is the highest pixel density screen they have ever shipped. With the new features, a new tagline had to be not far behind, “A little video for everyone”.
The body will feature a full metal design and come in black, red, silver, turquoise and green.
As for new software features, you can now play games and it will come bundled with Vortex and two other games.
Cover Flow has been added to give you full cover art browsing capabilities and the battery got a bump to 24 hours of audio or 5 hours of video. While the expected capacity bump didn’t happen, there was a price-cut: 4GB will be in silver only for $149, the 8GB will come in all colors for $199.
iPod Classic - A new name for the “original” iPod, iPod Classic, brought with it a bump in capacity. You can pick up an 80GB for $250 ($100 less than it cost yesterday) or a 160GB monster, capable of holding 40,000 songs, for $350.
iPod Touch - We had heard whispers the line was going to be four iPods now, up from three models, and the whispers were correct. iPod Touch is the name for the new, 8mm thin, top of the iPod heap.
As suspected, it has the same form factor as the iPhone, multi-touch screen, 3.5″ viewing area, Cover Flow, calendar, contacts, clock, calculator, music, videos, photo and, as we all suspected, Wi-Fi.
It’s sporting an 802.11 B/G receiver and the Safari web browser. That’s right sports fans, you can now browse the web on your iPod Touch. Or, if you’re bored, and hankering for the latest video zaniness, you can get on YouTube.
However, the price is bit of a damper for the storage. 8GB will set you back $299 and the 16GB will come in at $399.
iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store - And what would a Wi-Fi enabled iPod be without a way to buy your music on the go? For the iPod Touch and iPhone only, naturally, you will be able to browse, shop, listen to song samples and purchase anywhere there’s a Wi-Fi connection.
Since the iPod Touch will be able to ship to every country, the new Wi-Fi store will be available in all 22 countries where they currently have an iTunes store.
In a odd inclusion, Apple has partnered with Starbucks that you will be able to use the Touch to see what song is currently playing in the coffee shop you’re in, and in turn, purchase it.
iPhone - Well, this may be a blessing or a curse, but the 8GB iPhone got a $200 price cut and will not set you back only $399. For those early adopters out there, we feel your pain.
All-in-all, a stellar line refresh sure to set many Apple fans tongues to wagging.
(CORRECTION:Article was updated on 9/6, removing the reference to Sodoku being one of the free games on the iPod Nano. we regret any confusion we may have caused.)
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September 15th, 2007
Last time I checked the store had passed the 3 billion mark for music sales. Much more than 600 million anyway.