Click here for a slideshow of the new iPod touch and nano

Click here to see the development of the iPod since launch

The future of mobile computing is a sleek touch-controlled iPod that can surf the internet and show films in wide-screen, Apple predicted last night.

The latest version of the music player is only 8mm thick, comes with a 3.5in colour screen, built-in wi-fi internet access and Apple’s Safari internet browser. It looks like the iPhone, a device dubbed “the God machine”, but without the phone part. For the first time users will now be able to buy tracks from iTunes, Apple’s online media store, directly to the iPod without having to use a separate computer. Steve Jobs, the Apple chief executive, declared the gadget “the seventh wonder of the world”.

The iPod story

Facts, figures and pictures from the first six years of the $17 billion device that changed the music industry

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Multimedia

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An 8GB version will cost £199, a 16GB version, (enough to hold 4,000 music tracks) £269. Both are expected to hit the shops in Britain this month.

The new iPod had been at the centre of frenzied speculation from technology bloggers and Wall Street bankers alike. The first group was eager to scoop details of what looks likely to be this Christmas’s big seller, the second intent on determining what it can do for Apple’s already blossoming share price.

If the whoops and hollers from the aficionados at yesterday’s launch in San Francisco were anything to go by, both crowds should be happy. “Sexy, sexy, sexy — this is huge,” one German technology analyst said.

How it will fare in more critical company, however, remains a matter of debate. Storage capacity, at 8GB and 16GB, will be deemed stingy by some. In contrast, a newly revamped “iPod classic” comes with 160GB.

In recent months, others noted last night, Apple has appeared fallible, especially when it comes to its efforts in video, an obvious target for the iPod’s touch-screen. British consumers reacted angrily last week to news that they will be charged twice as much for TV programme downloads from Apple than their US peers. Apple TV, meanwhile, a box that transfers digital video from computers, has been panned by critics who say that an ordinary DVD player gives a better picture. Crucially, mobile internet devices have so far been set back by sluggish download speeds offered by current mobile networks.

Despite the recent glitches, however, the iPod remains a powerful product for Apple. Since its introduction five years ago, the company has sold more than 110 million of them. In the process it has transformed itself from a niche maker of stylish computers into a music powerhouse. It has sold more than three billion tracks on iTunes, its online store, and is now able to exert influence over record labels and the public’s buying habits.

Microsoft cut the price of the Zune, its 30GB digital music player and a rival to the iPod, by $50 (£25) to $199 yesterday. It said that it had planned the price cut “for months”.

The revamp of the entire iPod line announced yesterday, including a completely remodelled iPod Nano, the most successful music player, was seen as timely. Last year quarter-on-quarter iPod sales fell for the first time and a failure to produce an updated version was blamed. The timing of the launch — it will be in stores for the key Christmas period — is calculated to prevent a similar hiccup.

Even so, Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street bank, suggested last week that the iPod’s glory days may just be behind it. It forecast that Apple will sell something in the region of 20 million of them this Christmas quarter – slightly less than the record amount sold last year.

The bloggers’ views

The new iPod nano is super slick but looks like it has gained some bulk due to the larger video screen; still, carrying it around in you pocket at work is going to be no problem. 22 hours of audio battery and 5 hours’ video playback lets you get through a couple of workdays without having to recharge”
officestuffer.com

“Awesome, I will go for the iPod touch. I was wondering about the iPhone for some time but I did not like the package around it”
Poul

“Apple’s new iPod nano is smaller than you’d think — the saving grace of a device that didn’t make sense to many readers only a day ago”
ilounge.com

“Wow, what a significant event headed by Steve Jobs for the whole new family of iPods. Very impressive”
morningpaper.typepad.com

“iPoop . . . iCry. I was so hoping for something more”
elitemacor

“NO! Great, just what the world needs, another MP3 player. Go Steve!”
WeezerX80

Click here for more blogger reaction

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