Shares of Apple rose 2.8% on Wednesday after the company introduced a new line up of its popular music players - iPods at its annual music-themed special event.
CEO Steve Jobs also unveiled a social networking feature in the iTunes music store besides a revamped Apple TV device and updates to the operating system for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPads.
The new iPod Touch will start at US$229. It is thinner and adds many of the new iPhone 4's features, including a front and rear facing camera, "Retina Display," and FaceTime, which allows users to make video calls over Wi-Fi.
The iPod Touch is also the best selling portable game player, outselling Nintendo and Sony's portable game players combined, Jobs said.
The US$149 iPod Nano also got a significant upgrade. The device lost its click wheel and will feature a multi-touch screen and a clip on the back. Apple made it almost half the size of the current iPod Nano model and 42% lighter.
The new US$49 iPod Shuffle will sport buttons again on popular demand. The new Shuffle keeps the features of the latest one, including the ability to play custom playlists.
The only iPod that didn't get an update is the iPod Classic.
All of the new iPods will be available next week.
Apple also unveiled iTunes 10, complete with a new logo, which now features just a blue circle and a musical note. Major new feature in iTunes 10 is "Ping," a social network based feature. People can follow both friends and artists to comment on songs, albums and bands. They can also post videos, and find concert dates.
But, the iTunes update didn't include the cloud-based service that was anticipated by analysts.
Jobs also unveiled bug fixes and minor performance upgrades for Apple's mobile device operating system. He said the new iOS 4.1 offers improved photo-taking capabilities, the ability to upload high definition video over Wi-Fi and a new collaborative game playing community called Game Center. The new OS will be available for download in November.
Apple also previewed the next update, iOS 4.2. It will feature wireless printing for the iPad and the ability to connect an iPad to Apple TV devices.