New Apple Products

Apple took the wraps off the long-awaited iTunes phone from Motorola, the ROKR, during a special event Wednesday, September 7th, in San Francisco. Apple also updated iTunes to version 5.0 and introduced its replacement for the iPod mini: the iPod nano.
Motorola ROKR: The first iTunes-compatible cell phone will automatically pause when you get a call, Apple CEO Steve Jobs explained to the assembled media. Songs are transferred through a USB cable. The ROKR can only hold about 100 songs, according to Jobs. "The way we think of this phone is, it's really an iPod shuffle on your phone," he said. Both devices can shuffle, both can autofill, neither has a click wheel -- but the phone has a display.
Cingular Wireless will be the exclusive provider of the phone in North America. "A great phone with an iTunes client is half the story," said Jobs. "What we're adding to that is the number one wireless carrier in North America."
iTunes 5: The latest update to the popular music jukebox software for both Mac and Windows sports "a little bit of a refined look," according to Jobs. Users can now organize playlists into folders, and new search capabilities have been added. Windows users can now automatically synchronize contact and calendar information using iTunes 5 and Microsoft's Outlook and Outlook Express software.
A "Smart Shuffle" feature has been added that lets users control how likely they are to hear multiple songs from the same artist or the same album using a preference slider. "We've got a lot of people saying our shuffle is not random," mused Jobs. Parental controls have also been added to help parents restrict purchases of music that contains explicit lyrics through the iTunes Music Store.
The software is available for download immediately.
iPod nano: Jobs describe the iPod mini as what all of Apple's competitors are aiming for. In response, the company is "going to do something pretty bold," Jobs said -- replace it "with something new."
Enter the iPod nano, "an entirely new ground-up design, that also has 1000 songs in your pocket," according to Jobs. The white device features a color display and can support photos. It uses a grey click wheel to navigate, and is 80 percent smaller in volume than the original iPod -- thinner than a number two pencil, said Jobs. The iPod nano weighs 1.5 ounces or 42 grams.
Compared to the iPod mini, the iPod nano is half the thickness and 62 percent smaller by volume. It uses a 30-pin dock connector, so the iPod nano plugs in to existing iPod accessories, and can also connect using USB 2.0. It features a 14-hour rechargeable battery. It achieves its small size by eschewing a hard disk drive in favor of flash memory.
The iPod nano ships today in 2GB and 4GB configurations for US$199 and $249 respectively. Apple is also offering customized iPod nano accessories including a $29 dock, $39 lanyard with built-in headphones, color-coordinated armbands for $29 each, and "nanotubes" -- green, purple, blue and pink slipcases, sold in boxes of five, for $29 each.