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Steve Jobs Appears At Apple Event, Announces iTunes 9, New iPods

Posted by: Arik Hesseldahl on September 09

Apple CEO Steve Jobs appeared on stage at an event in San Francisco to announce a revamp to its iTunes music and media store, and new versions of its iPod music players.

A new iPod nano boasting a video camera, a sound recorder and an FM radio tuner was the main new peice of hardware.

Jobs took a shot at rival Cisco System, which earlier this year acquired Pure Digital, the company behind the popular Flip line of video cameras. “The market has exploded and we want to get in on it,” Jobs said.

The video-capable camera has been added to the back of the iPod nano in its lower right corner. Video clips can be viewed on the nano device itself or synced directly to a computer via iTunes, from where they can be uploaded directly to YouTube. It comes in two models: Eight gigabytes for $149 and 16 gigabytes for $179, and in nine colors.

The iPod touch was also updated, with Phil Schiller, an Apple VP playing up the device’s power as a handheld gaming platform. Game development companies like Electronic Arts and Ubisoft demonstrated several games on the device.

Schiller touted Apple’s newfound power in the handheld gaming market, pointing out that the iPod touch and iPhone – which share the same operating system software — boasts a game library of more than 21,000 titles, compared to about 3,600 for the Nintendo DS and some 600 for Sony’s Playstation Portable.


The new iPod touch will sell in three versions: 8 GB for $199, 32 GB for $299 and 64 GB for $399.

Other iPod models were also updated, including the hard-drive based iPod classic, which now sports a 160 GB drive, while still selling for $250. The iPod shuffle, the diminutive low-price player was introduced in several new colors, including red green and blue, and prices ranging from $59 to $79 depending on storage capacity.

Apple also announced a new version of its iTunes software, iTunes 9. Among its new features are the ability to share song and media info via Facebook and Twitter. Apple also announced a new iTunes LP format, offering video, lyrics and other kinds of content that used to be included with record albums. The new iTunes will also allow users to copy songs between as many as five computers in a single household. The store will also offer some 30,000 ringtones at a price of $1.29 each.

Jobs also updated the markets on the state of the iTunes store. IPhone and iPod touch owners have downloaded some 1.8 billion applications from the iTunes App store, Jobs said, and that the library of applications offered has grown to 75,000. On the music front, he said the store has seen 8.5 billion songs downloaded, and that the store now boasts more than 100 million accounts.

Jobs, a pancreatic cancer survivor who underwent a liver transplant in March and said he was thankful for the generosity of a 20-year old organ donor who died in a car accident. It was his first public appearance since taking medical leave from his duties as CEO of Apple in January.

Apple stock fell by about $1.78 or more than 1% after the event. Analysts called it a buying opportunity.

Analyst Gene Munster of PiperJaffray said he was among those who had expected an iPod touch with a video camera. “The lack of a camera may be due to last-minute quality issues, or it may also be a strategic decision to differentiate the nano from the touch, and the touch from the iPhone. Ultimately, we see the lack of a camera in the touch as a move to push users towards the iPhone and drive purchases of multiple devices per customer by segmenting the product lines,” he wrote in a research note issued after the event.

One other device that some had expected, but which did not appear was the much-rumored Apple tablet. That device is not expected to be announced before early 2010.

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Reader Comments

Gabe

September 9, 2009 03:10 PM

Seriosuly...that is what you have to comment about after reading it. Hmm...there seems to be a mistake on your part on hitting the "Submit Comments" button more than once.

Alex

September 9, 2009 04:05 PM

I have to say that even though I don't care that much, and I like the info in the article, I did notice the blatant grammar mistakes. If an article is poorly written it just looks unprofessional, sorry.

Jenaro

September 9, 2009 04:26 PM

Who gives? there is no reason to talk about it...did yall read it? did yall understand it? then who cares just go on

Jasmine

September 9, 2009 04:39 PM

When does the new ipod touch come out?? I have been waiting for 2 months (since I lost my nano) for the new touch, and then they go and update the nano like this.. however, you can't beat the wifi and apps on the touch!!

Dave

September 9, 2009 04:43 PM

Leave the author alone. This article is great.

Jeff

September 9, 2009 04:59 PM

Just a video Big deal

Jeff

September 9, 2009 04:59 PM

Just a video Big deal

Jeff

September 9, 2009 05:01 PM

Just a video,, Big Deal!!!

Justin

September 9, 2009 06:44 PM

Everyone's a critic. Why don't you pedantic people just go write your own articles?

Chuck Gaffney

September 9, 2009 06:47 PM

It was great to see Steve Jobs back on stage. The standing ovation he got was well deserved.

Ansh Patel

September 9, 2009 07:25 PM

Welcome back,Steve Jobs!!!

Spellchecker

September 9, 2009 07:48 PM

I before E except before C....oh, let us try that again....I before E except if you write for BusinessWeek and spell piece as peice. Good Job!!!

Sri

September 9, 2009 08:49 PM

Great!!! Steve will be alive for the foreseeable future...Microsoft will not dominate...there still hope in this world....

Fred

September 9, 2009 10:30 PM

There was a time when being a professional journalist meant taking the greatest care to get the facts correct and the details straight. Spelling errors were, and still are, a sure sign of shoddy journalism: disregard for details, lack of respect for the self and for the reader, and a general absence of professionalism. This is what you get in an age when the purpose of reporting, and everything else, is to create wealth for shareholders, and the heck with quality if it doesn't raise the bottom line.

By the way, that should be "Cisco Systems."

Aravindan Umashankar

September 9, 2009 10:42 PM

The news coverage above does point out to some sterling additions like the video camera edge to keep the iPODs on the crest of the market offerings. However there is no game changer from Apple as yet. Taking on mighty newer competitors like the gaming czars & Cisco albeit not in a frontal way is stirring another hornets nest in a rather expectant way.

Now that Steve's got a 20 year olds liver ligament added he will I am sure rev up the innovation job to create a possible game changer. Having take on the already mature hand phone market to where it is now, there are some other industries that yo will see apple entering. I guess the HOME is yet to be conquered by most and a large chunk of the market is what the rainmaker par excellence is looking at . Steve ! We await the unveiling of the next grand show!

Aravindan Umashankar

September 9, 2009 10:44 PM

The news coverage above does point out to some sterling additions like the video camera edge to keep the iPODs on the crest of the market offerings. However there is no game changer from Apple as yet. Taking on mighty newer competitors like the gaming czars & Cisco albeit not in a frontal way is stirring another hornets nest in a rather expectant way.

Now that Steve's got a 20 year olds liver ligament added he will I am sure rev up the innovation job to create a possible game changer. Having take on the already mature hand phone market to where it is now, there are some other industries that yo will see apple entering. I guess the HOME is yet to be conquered by most and a large chunk of the market is what the rainmaker par excellence is looking at . Steve ! We await the unveiling of the next grand show!

Aravindan Umashankar

September 9, 2009 10:47 PM

The news coverage above does point out to some sterling additions like the video camera edge to keep the iPODs on the crest of the market offerings. However there is no game changer from Apple as yet. Taking on mighty newer competitors like the gaming czars & Cisco albeit not in a frontal way is stirring another hornets nest in a rather expectant way.

Now that Steve's got a 20 year olds liver ligament added he will I am sure rev up the innovation job to create a possible game changer. Having take on the already mature hand phone market to where it is now, there are some other industries that yo will see apple entering. I guess the HOME is yet to be conquered by most and a large chunk of the market is what the rainmaker par excellence is looking at . Steve ! We await the unveiling of the next grand show!

Aravindan Umashankar

September 9, 2009 10:54 PM

The news coverage above does point out to some sterling additions like the video camera edge to keep the iPODs on the crest of the market offerings. However there is no game changer from Apple as yet. Taking on mighty newer competitors like the gaming czars & Cisco albeit not in a frontal way is stirring another hornets nest in a rather expectant way.

Now that Steve's got a 20 year olds liver ligament added he will I am sure rev up the innovation job to create a possible game changer. Having take on the already mature hand phone market to where it is now, there are some other industries that yo will see apple entering. I guess the HOME is yet to be conquered by most and a large chunk of the market is what the rainmaker par excellence is looking at . Steve ! We await the unveiling of the next grand show!

Andrew

September 9, 2009 11:37 PM

Wow a new ipod! Amazing news.

HJ

September 10, 2009 03:38 AM

“The market has exploded and we want to get in on it,” How is that "taking a shot". I doubt the quality of video is as good as a Flip. Also we all know Apple is never shy about claiming how they're so better than anyone else but they took it to another level with the 20k plus games graph they showed claming how they had so many more "entertainment" apps than the Nintendo DS or PSP had "overpriced" games. Yeah when 19,995 of them are worthless apps like farting or crappy games of course you're going to have a numerical advantage.

Colon Cleanse 3000

September 11, 2009 02:50 AM

such a great news for apple users.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Colon-Cleanse-3000-Review---Is-it-Worthy-to-Buy?&id=2790834

Steven

September 14, 2009 08:10 AM

Why can't we just take Steve at his word that they decided to push the Touch as a gaming platform, which pushed affordability to the top of the features list?

Kevin Foley

September 17, 2009 01:23 PM

Fred, the author of this post has a grad degree in journalism from Columbia. I think he knows what quality reporting means. It's just a blog post, after all.

More on topic, I agree with those that say there is nothing groundbreaking here. I don't think the Touch has really found a niche yet, so it will be interesting to see where it goes from here.

stockexplosion

September 24, 2009 02:05 AM

love this stuff, iPod touch and iPhone.

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A blog on the daily doings of Apple and the many companies in its orbit, with insight and analysis by two longtime Apple-watchers BusinessWeek Senior Writer Peter Burrows and BusinessWeek.com Senior Technology Writer Arik Hesseldahl.

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