Apple unveils new iPod with Wi-Fi

CEO Steve Jobs announced major upgrades to its popular music players; cuts iPhone price by $200.



By Jon Fortt, Business 2.0 Magazine senior editor
September 5 2007: 4:31 PM EDT


SAN FRANCISCO (Business 2.0 Magazine) -- Apple announced Wednesday the first major overhaul of its popular iPod music digital players in nearly two years and slashed the price of its new iPhone.

CEO Steve Jobs unveiled a series of iPod upgrades - including more storage and bigger screens - but the showstopper was a new model dubbed the iPod Touch and fashioned after the iPhone.


Apple CEO Steve Jobs speaking Wednesday in San Francisco, where he announced a major revamp of its iPod music players.

The new iPod Touch is modeled after Apple's new cell phone, the iPhone.
Apple (down $7.40 to $136.76, Charts, Fortune 500) also announced a new version of its iTunes music store that will allow users to buy songs wirelessly.

In iPhone news, Jobs said Apple will discontinue one of the two models sold since late June. The remaining version, with 8 gigabytes of storage, will now sell for $399, or $200 less than before.

Blogging the Apple event
Jobs detailed these and other developments at an invitation-only press conference held in San Francisco.

The biggest news centered on Apple's iPod line. To date, the company has sold more than 100 million iPods, but sales have been drifting since last year's holiday shopping season and profit margins are shrinking.

Apple now sells four different types of iPod: the Touch, Shuffle, Nano and the original model, which Jobs christened the Classic on Wednesday.

A new version of the Classic comes with a full metal design and is thinner than its predecessor. A $249 version has 80 gigabytes of storage and 30 hours of audio. A slightly thicker model features 160 gigabytes of storage and will retail for $349.

"This boggles the mind," Jobs said. He noted that the original iPod could hold up to 1,000 songs. Today, an iPod can store 40,000 songs.