Highlights from Apple’s Press Event 9/9/09

Well, it’s come and gone. The anticipated 9/9/09 event from Apple did not reveal an Apple Tablet nor any new “designs” in any of the iPods, but there are some lower prices and new features. No camera for the iPod Touch (nor any WiFi) but the slim and sleek new iPod Nano gets a video/camera. Steve Jobs knows that people love to shoot video and the Flip Mino was starting to see some good sales out of their pocketable video recording device. So, Apple wanted in on the action and thought that the Nano was the best way to go about getting this done.

Lots of people are indeed upset that the iPod Touch did not get any such upgrades, but let me remind you that right now they are treading thin ice. If they put a camera/video recorder on the Touch then they will have to put a speaker/mic and that means that Google Voice, Skype, and the likes will be usable on the Touch, bypassing wireless carriers and the need for any type of conventional wireless plan. We can’t have that can we? It would open up a whole new can of worms for Apple and AT&T.

Anyway, getting back to the event, here’s the highlights of the new pricing and structure (oh, and it was good to see Steve Jobs back on stage!):

iPod Nano comes in 9 colors (polished anodized aluminum) and will have camera/video recording capability. There are two models. 8GB for $149 and 16GB for $179. They’re available today. Oh yea, and FM radio finally comes to iPod too with this new device.

iPod Shuffle, the world’s smallest MP3 player now is priced at $59 for 2GB and $79 for 4GB and comes in 4 colors. Also, a special edition for $99 made of polished steel.

iPod Classic. Before today, there was a 120GB version for $249. They’re going to raise the size to 160GB for the same $249 so you have room for more songs and content.

iPod Touch. The price for entry level 8GB has been lowered to $199 with the 32GB coming in at $299 and a 64GB  at $399.