• Reuters, Thursday, September 6, 2007 10:45 AM

Apple, Inc. made a flurry of new announcements on Wednesday, including a new-look for its line of iPods, Wi-Fi compatibility, an iTunes partnership with Starbucks Corp. and a $200 price cut for the most powerful versions of its iPhone. The $400 8G iPhone was the met with mixed reviews by analysts and investors, who worried that the cut indicated lower than expected demand for the AT&T-only phone. Apple shares fell 5% on the news.

The positive iPod news tempered what could have been a worse day of trading for Apple. Wi-Fi capability effectively turns the iPod into the iPhone, but without the phone part. The new touch-screen iPods can handle everything from Google Web search to YouTube videos. "It's hard to see how anyone is going to take much ground away from them this holiday," Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg.

Apple's new partnership with Starbucks will allow the coffee maker's customers to preview and purchase content from the iTunes Store without paying or logging into a Starbucks T-Mobile hotspot. Through iTunes, iPhone users will be able to turn their existing songs into ringtones or purchase new ones. Also, for the first time, iPhone and Wi-Fi-enabled iPod owners will no longer need their personal computers to download content from iTunes.

Read the whole story at Reuters »