SAN FRANCISCO--Apple Computer on Wednesday unveiled a tiny new iPod that will replace the popular iPod Mini and a cell phone capable of playing music downloaded from a computer running iTunes.
At an invitation-only event for journalists and others here, Apple CEO Steve Jobs pulled the new iPod Nano from his front pocket and declared: "1,000 songs in your pocket and impossibly small."
The fully featured Nano, which is thinner than a pencil and roughly the size of a business card, uses flash memory rather than the small, spinning hard drives used in Minis.
The Nano replaces the Mini line, which is located in the middle of Apple’s lineup--in size and price--between the diminutive Shuffle and the capacious iPod. The Mini is Apple’s best selling version of the iPod, and Jobs predicted the Nano will be a worthy successor. It "will instantly become the highest volume and most popular version of the iPod," he said.
iPod Nano comes in black or white and in two sizes: the 4GB iPod Nano holds about 1,000 songs and the 2GB iPod Nano holds 500 songs. They cost $249 and $199, respectively, and will appear in some Apple stores beginning Thursday.
The Mini line it replaces comes in four colors and in capacities of 4GB for $199 and 6GB for $249.
"iPod Nano is the biggest revolution since the original iPod," Jobs said. "iPod Nano is a full-featured iPod in an impossibly small size, and it's going to change the rules for the entire portable music market."
The Nano features the same 30-pin dock connector as the iPod and iPod Mini, allowing it to work with a wide range of accessories, including home stereo speakers and car adapters.
JupiterResearch analyst Michael Gartenberg said the iPod Nano would be just as popular as the Mini.
"This is the kind of thing that Apple loves to do--make a product and then turn around and try to make it better," Gartenberg said. "I think the Nano will be a big hit, especially with sports-minded individuals and younger consumers.
Extending the iPod/iTunes franchise into a new market, Apple and Motorola on Wednesday also unveiled the Rokr, a color-screen cell phone that can hold music downloaded from iTunes. The product had been expected since July 2004, when Motorola and Apple announced plans to collaborate on a music-capable phone.
"Today the talk ends and the music begins," said Ralph de la Vega, chief operating officer at Cingular, which will be the exclusive U.S. carrier of the phone.
The Rokr will be available this weekend in Cingular stores and sooner online at $249.99 with a two-year service agreement. It can hold only 100 songs, even if the consumer inserts a memory card larger than the 512MB card that ships with the phone. The Rokr has a color display and features built-in stereo speakers, as well as stereo headphones that also serve as a mobile headset with a microphone.
The Rokr could help Apple crack a potentially vast new market--hundreds of millions of cell phones are sold each year. In North America, Motorola is the largest handset maker and Cingular is the largest service provider.
As is the case with most Apple product announcements, the company employed star power to add to the glitz. Following Jobs' unveiling of the devices, rapper Kanye West took the stage to sing two songs. And making an appearance from London, via iChat, was Madonna, who touted her new album, as well as the just-announced availability of her vast library on iTunes.
iPod sales have propelled Apple into a leading market position, with a 53 percent share of all digital-music players, according to a report released Tuesday by Solutions Research Group. Sony and RCA tied for a distant second with 9 percent share each.
Apple's success has had a tremendous ripple effect on the digital-music player industry. D&M Holdings, which makes the Rio music player, said last month that it is shuttering its portable digital-audio division, in part because of Apple's domination.
Despite Apple's steps into the mobile-phone music player space, analysts are mixed on its effect on the iPod generation.
"I see the move as largely defensive," said Roger Kay, president and chief analyst with Endpoint Technologies Associates. "A cell phone is not the optimal device for listening to music."
Kay noted that Apple should be concerned that other handset makers and network providers might try to bypass the need to work with Apple, given that cell phones are already exceptionally popular and increasingly capable of playing music.
The nano is a sexy piece of hardware.
A buddy and mine were talking when the shuffle came out and pretty much were in agreement that Apple to keep on the market had to start going with Flash to make their Ipods more affordable to the masses.
Nano is the thing we were talking about.
HDD players were a niche market and the nano is the mainstream answer to flash MP3 players across the board.
I think Apple might get a good payoff for the risk.
the phone is crap compared to other ones around, 100 song limit is pretty pathetic
It's not an artifical limit, its due to space. If you want to fit 10,000 songs into 256 or 512mb, be my guest. Problem is, Transflash (microSD) is only made up to 512MB right now. 1GB will be out around christmas, if not early spring.Originally Posted by beardedwonder
My security guide @ Zeropaid
Unless you are the following people, I do not particularly wish to associate with you:
Krell, HelenaP, mountain_rage, mfgbypooter, Mels_Smileys45, excrement_cranium.
That's it for now. This list will be updated whenever I feel like it.
The nano looks pretty cool. You would be gutted if you just bought an iPod Mini yesterday. Its harsh, I didnt know anything about the nano until I read this today, they could of said on the site that a new one was coming out soon.
The radical invents the views. When he has worn them out the conservative adopts them.
Mark Twain
Apparently the nano is for sale on apples website as of yesterday.
______________________________________________
In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird.
Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.
Theres load of them floating around ebay.
September 8, 2010: Apple announced today the introduction of the ipodchip, a tiny computer chip implanted just under the skin at the base of your skull, which is capable of holding up to two million songs, downloaded from Itunes at a mere 2.95 per song. You get the songs by sticking your finger in the fingerprint scanning USB port (invented in 2007) in any computer. However, these songs may be used only on your chip. You may not "give the finger" to any one else. In addition, the songs will play only in your head, so no one else will be able to hear them. You must also agree that upon your demise, the chip must be returned to Itunes. The songs will no longer exist, as you will no longer exist. Welcome to ulitimate DRM!
NO.
Please lengthen your message to atleast 10 characters.
I quite like this new iPod, i might buy it, looks good, like the colours!
Looks like i can snap the Nano is Half
crapping
the screen is small as shit and the damn thing is like a long rectangle
and most SPORTS people want something that can fall drop and still work looks like this thing would shatter
Apple= pretty on the outside and crappy on the inside
SYNC 1000 songs over flash
SLOW
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4225496.stmLike the iPod shuffle the Rokr phone lacks a click wheel. It can hold a maximum of 100 songs even if a memory card with a larger capacity is used.
Damn, I guess I heard wrong then.
My security guide @ Zeropaid
Unless you are the following people, I do not particularly wish to associate with you:
Krell, HelenaP, mountain_rage, mfgbypooter, Mels_Smileys45, excrement_cranium.
That's it for now. This list will be updated whenever I feel like it.
I'm not a bit impressed with the Ipod Nano. In fact, I think it is a lame idea. First off they keep making these stupid music players smaller and smaller. Then you pay two hundred bucks for it and then someone steals it. Or drop it on the floor and break it. I want something big enough to where I can keep track of it and where it won't break the moment I drop it.
guys i found an awesome website where you can get one of these new ipod nanos for free they're awesome all you have to do is complete one "offer"(i recommend eFax) and refer 5 friends. i'm almost done and my friend got a regular iPod from this company please help if you've got any questions feel free to email me
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