SAN FRANCISCO, Sep. 1, 2010 (Xinhua News Agency) -- Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) on Wednesday unveiled a revamped series of iPod media player which go smaller, lighter and cheaper.
At a media event held in San Francisco, Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the refreshed product line, saying that "it's the biggest change in the iPod lineup ever."
The new iPod Shuffle, like the size of a lapel button, will start at 49 U.S. dollars with 15 hours of songs. With battery lasting for up to 24 hours, the revamped iPod Nano has a touchscreen instead of a clickwheel.
The iPod touch, the most popular iPod product, goes thinner and gets the Retina Display, same as iPhone 4. It also gets a front facing camera and FaceTime, a video calling software also feature for iPhone 4. The battery can last for 40 hours and the price starts at 229 dollars with the 8G model.
The Apple CEO then introduced the new iTunes social network called Ping which works on iPhones, iPod touches and the PC. With Jobs calling it as "social music discovery," Ping is like a hybrid of Facebook, Twitter and iTunes, enabling users to follow friends and artists to see what they are saying and downloading.
After reviewing all the new products, Jobs noted that the new iPod series is "the strongest lineup of iPods we've ever had." He also expressed expectations for Ping, saying that "we think this is going to be very popular, very fast."
