MPN Specials

With typical fanfare and glory, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the newest improvements to their already incredible lineup.

But just to put their success in perspective, he gave a few amazing statistics: Apple has sold more than 120 million iPhones, iPads and iPod touches. This is up from 100 million devices just three months ago. What may be more impressive is that Apple is activating 230,000 new iOS device every single day. He also announced that 6.5 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store, and the pace of downloads is now at 200 apps per second. 25,000 of the applications in the app store are now iPad apps.

Jobs did not announce any new products, he announced several really cool product enhancements.  Here is a brief description of each:

1. Apple TV – This is the top priority on my list.  I have been thinking about canceling my way overpriced cable service and just watching TV shows, movies, and videos via my computer.  This new Apple TV is only $99.  You can rent regular and HD movies and TV shows as well as stream photos and music from your computer, iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad to your widescreen TV.
   
   For more information about Apple TV, go to www.apple.com/appletv/
   
2. The new iPod Touch – This is for someone who wants all the features of the iPhone, without the phone capabilities.  So just about anything you can do on the iPhone 4 using wifi you can do on this new iPod Touch. This new iPod Touch has two cameras,s o you can use FaceTime (real-time video calling), with other iPhone 4 and iPod Touch users. This new iPod Tocuh has the truly visionary Retina display for incredible resolution. It has HD quality video recording, and even more amazing gaming speed.
   
   For more information about Apple’s new iPod Touch, go to www.apple.com/ipodtouch
3. The New iPod Nano – Now this is an interesting change.  It is a cross between the previous iPod Nano and the iPod Shuffle. It is half the size of the previous iPod Nano, but it has a very high quality color screen that supports multi-touch.  It still has an FM radio, is great for fitness training – complete with Nike+ compatibility.  You can now swipe and expand graphics just like on the iPhone and iPod Touch.  However, this nano no longer has a camera or supports video.
   
   For More information about this new Apple iPod Nano, go to www.apple.com/ipodnano/features.html.
4. The New iPod Shuffle – This is the smallest, least expensive iPod ever, at only $49.  The changes to this iPod are relatively minimal.  It does not have a display, but does have voice over, so it talks to you.  It has large, clickable buttons for easy use, 15 hours of battery life, 2 GB of storage, and Genius Mix music support.
   
   For more information about the new Apple iPod Shuffle, go to www.apple.com/ipodshuffle
5. New Apple iTunes – You are probably asking yourself, what could they possibly do to iTunes to change it, that would make it better?  I can already sync all my devices, buy new music, movies, and TV shows, and arrange my playlists.  Well, here is a short list of the newest features.  1) They added social media Ping capability so you can follow artists and friends – more like Twitter and Facebook, 2) In addition to buying TV shows, you can now rent them, commercial free and in HD, for as little as 99¢ / episode, 3) AirPlay – play music wirelessly throughout the entire house with AirPlay enabled speakers and accessories, 4) Added support for the new Apple TV, and 5) Improved device syncing, which includes faster sync, a memory capacity bar, and added application organization.
   
   For more information about what is new in iTune, go to www.apple.com/itunes/whats-new

I hope this gives you a good idea of Apple’s new line up.  Please let me know what you think of these changes and your feedback if you have used any of them.

Cheers,
Richard