Thursday, September 02, 2010
APPLE has unveiled new iPod media players, has added social-networking features to its iTunes software and introduced a service that lets users rent shows and movies.
The company revamped its Apple TV set-top box to offer high-definition TV program rentals for 99 cents, Chief Executive Steve Jobs said yesterday at an event in San Francisco.
The device also will deliver first-run movie rentals for Netflix Inc’s online service.
Apple is parlaying its leadership in mobile applications and music sales to push deeper into video content and social networking. To offer the TV rental service, it has forged deals with Walt Disney’s ABC and News Corp’s Fox. The updated software and additional content are part of Jobs’s strategy of getting consumers to buy more devices, including the iPhone and iPad.
The new iTunes 10 adds a social network for music called Ping, which lets users "follow" others, Jobs said.
Ping, as it is known, allows users to build networks of friends and musicians, in a similar way to services such as Twitter.
The service can also build playlists based on what members of those networks are listening to.
"It’s a social network all about music," said Mr Jobs, launching the application at an event in San Francisco.
"We think this will be really popular very fast because 160 million people can switch it on today," he said. The service will be accessible through iTunes software on Macs and PCs as well as through the iTunes application on iPhones and the iPod Touch.
Analysts at research firm CCS insight said it represented an "ambitious move" that would present a challenge to "ailing MySpace and other social networks".
The company introduced new designs for all its iPods, including a Shuffle with 15 hours of music play and a smaller iPod Nano with a touch pad. The updated iPod Touch has a sharper screen, a front-facing camera, and features that allow video editing and face-to-face chats.
"It’s the biggest change in the iPod lineup ever," Jobs said at the event.
Apple has sold more than 275 million iPods since the product’s debut in 2001.
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