Apple today had one of 'those' events in San Francisco. At 10am PDT, under the banner of Let's Rock, Steve Jobs made a number of important product announcements. These included a brand new version of iTunes in the shape of iTunes 8. This comes with support for HD television programmes, a 'Genius' playlist function which recommends songs based on what you listen to and what you own, and a new flat album view. A new iPod Nano, the Nano 4G, becomes the thinnest iPod ever. It can do the Genius thing all on its own without needing to be connected to iTunes and a computer. Best of all if you shake it then it shuffles, seriously. It also has an accelerometer built in so is capable of doing the same flipping from landscape to portrait trick. A new Nano will cost from $149 for the 8GB device and $199 for the bigger 16GB one.
The new iTouch has also been announced, which brings a built-in speaker and a curved back in the same fashion as the iPhone. From what we can tell, and there is likely to be some more in-depth detail released during the course of the day, or at least I hope so, that's about it though. Other than to say the range starts with a 8GB version for $229 and goes up to the 32GB range topper at $399.
Last, but not least, is the long awaited iPhone 2.1 firmware update that promises to give longer battery life, more stability and faster iTunes backup. It will be available at the end of the week and is free for users of iPhone 2.0 firmware, and $9.99 if you had not previously upgraded.
The one thing missing from the Let's Rock Apple Event was the much hyped new MacBook. Oh well, maybe next time?
