Apple introduces a myriad of new products, including new iPods

At Apple's product launch event on Wednesday, September 1st, Apple unveiled an impressive selection of new devices and services, including new iPods, a new Apple TV device and service, iTunes 10, and a new iOS.

Perhaps the biggest news from Apple on Wednesday was their brand new line of iPods, signaling the company hasn't given up on the idea of the simple MP3 player. They announced today a new iPod touch, very similar to the iPhone 4, including facetime for making free WiFi calls with the front facing camera. The iPod touch is already the highest selling portable gaming device, outselling the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP according to Steve Jobs, and the new A4 processor and higher resolution screen are only going to add to that discrepancy. The new iPod touch will be capable of running some pretty outstanding games as soon as the developers catch up to the power it provides.

Apple also introduced a new touchscreen iPod Nano starting at $149. The new design features no buttons and comes in at about half the size and 58% of the weight of the last Nano. To round out their iPod announcements they also announced a new iPod shuffle starting at $49 and combining the best of the last 2 years of shuffles combined, giving you the extra control of the buttons from the 2008 Nano, and the ability to play custom playlists from the 2009 version.

Another significant announcement Apple made Wednesday was the new iOS 4.1 and iTunes 10 releases. The iOS 4.1 only brings minor tweaks and upgrades to the table, but that is what progress is all about, baby steps. The new OS should be a bit faster, produce better pictures, allow you to upload videos over WiFi, and introduces a new feature called Game Center.

iTunes 10 is a much bigger announcement, with Apple changing the logo and adding a new social networking feature called “ping.” The new feature will allow users to interact with each other through their iTunes software and will also allow them follow and give feedback to artists they listen to on iTunes.

Last but not least, Apple unveiled their newest revision of their so far unsuccessful Apple TV. The original iteration of Apple TV was $229, a lot to ask for somebody to replace or add to their current cable package. Realizing this, Apple released a revised version of the Apple TV Box for a much more reasonable $99.

The biggest difference is the storage. The original Apple TV Box relied on storing media content for viewing later. Because of this, it was much larger and more expensive to produce. However, Apple decided they would be much better off creating a smaller box with no storage space, and relying entirely on streaming content to your television. Television episodes are predicted to be priced at $.99 and high definition movies at $4.99.

While things like Apple TV are not likely to take off just yet, the new iPods and software upgrades are another example of Apple's ingenuity. Their industry leading portable gaming console got more powerful, their product catalog got a makeover, and the software that runs it all got an upgrade. All in all, not a bad day for the company that is the apple of the mobile industries eye.