Recapping "The beat goes on" Apple Event

jaredjared College Station, TX Icrontian
edited September 2007 in Science & Tech
Steve had a busy day today at Apple's Special Event, dubbed "The beat goes on". We reported yesterday on a few of the rumors that had been floating around the internet for some 2 weeks now. Surprisingly most of rumors turned out to be true. With so much Apple-goodness announced today I'll go straight to the recap.

In the typical Apple Event fashion, Steve started out the event <strike>presenting</strike> blowing away the audience with facts. What facts? Well over 600 million copies of iTunes has been distributed to date. The iTunes store has sold over 3 billion songs (only ~5 songs per copy)and now offers over 6 million tracks compared to the small 200,000 they opened with. Steve also made sure to tell everyone they are the number 3 music retailer in the US. Great! But enough with padding the facts, people want products!

Apple decided to go big for this event, hence the cheesy name "the beat goes on". They refreshed all current iPods and released a new one into the wild. All new products discussed have already been shipped to the Apple retail stores and should be available starting this weekend.

iPod shuffle. Even the baby of the family received a slight refresh. Sure they seem pretty worthless due to the lack of any screen; however, the fact is they have an apple stamped on the back and people are still buying. Apple is adding a few colors to the Shuffle line-up to keep the consumer coming for more.

iPod Nano. - This is where things take off. Forget about Apple's bastard child, the Shuffle. The Nano is where the <strike>money</strike> experience is at! The new Nano is shorter than the past generation and features a large 2-inch screen. It comes equipped with a QVGA screen (think the iPod Video) and an all new user interface. The new UI will have Apple's famous CoverFlow application and will be able to play downloaded games. Don't expect great CoverFlow performance as the Nano has limited horsepower and Engadget said the demos were "a bit choppy and slow". Of course with the new huge screen comes video capabilities. For those cliff-note lovers out there that translates to:
  • New design (short and wide)
  • 2" QVGA screen
  • New UI featuring CoverFlow
  • Supports Videos + games
  • Battery life: 24hrs - audio, 5hrs - video
  • Pricing: 4GB - $149, 8GB - $199
iPod Classic. Nothing too exciting or new here. The iPod classic is essentially the old generation iPod slimmed down a bit with a storage bump. It does have the new UI with CoverFlow and improvements. The most impressive point is the storage capacity. The iPod Classic will be available in 80GB and 160GB (think ~40k songs) models. These will sell for $250 and $350 respectively. Oh, and finally a battery life that doesn't suck: 40hrs for audio and 7hrs for video.

iPod Touch. I could sit here and write paragraph after paragraph about Apple's new iPod Touch. I could write about its large sleek 3.5"screen, its many wondrous capabilities, or how the name alone makes me feel all warm inside. But, alas, I don't need to do all that. Why is that? The iPod Touch is simply the iPhone minus the phone. Literally. It does everything the iPhone does besides accepting incoming calls. With that said I will go straight to the cliffs:
  • New to iPod line-up (duh!)
  • 3.5" touch screen
  • Uses slimmed down OSX
  • Features apps seen on iPhone: games, contacts, Safari, CoverFlow, etc
  • Batter life: 22hrs - audio, 5hrs - video
  • Pricing: 8GB - $299, 16GB - $399 (ouch)
The new iPod line-up was the bulk of the announcements today. Steve did manage to slip in a few other interesting things such as customizable iPhone ringtones from the iTunes store, a partnership with Starbucks to roll out WiFi in all their stores, and notably (see below) a massive price drop for the iPhone. Oh, and still no Beatles :(

Comments

  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    edited September 2007
    great recap sur Jared^ :thumbsup:

    iPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouchiPodtouch

    warm and fuzy yet.. ;)
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