Verizon offers prepaid data plans for smart phones -

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

Verizon strengthened its prepaid offerings on Thursday, introducing prepay data plans for consumers who wish to use smart phones on a no contract basis. While the acquisition costs for those phones will be significantly higher, a customer would be free to leave at any time.

Prepaid data plans would cost the user $30 per month, and include unlimited data access. The company would offer a 250MB data plan for "multimedia" phones, which would be a $10 per month add on. Both offerings would become available beginning immediately in Verizon's own stores, and online on September 28, the company said.

Data plans are not mandatory on prepaid phones, but would require a voice plan in order to be added to a user's account. The monthly fee is the same as a postpaid contract holder would pay, although its voice plans start at a $5 premium to the postpaid customer.

Many of Verizon's popular smart phones would be compatible with the prepaid service. These include the carrier's Blackberry line, the Droid X, the Droid 2, and HTC's Droid Incredible, among others. Multimedia phones compatible with the cheaper plan included the LG enV and Chocolate, Samsung Alias, and Casio Elixim.

"These new data offerings will help our prepaid customers experience the full breadth of Verizon Wireless' robust device portfolio," Verizon Wireless marketing director Jim Sullivan said. The move is also likely aimed at keeping the carrier in step with its competitors, who have increasingly been offering more smart phones in their device lineups as of late.

Essentially, prepaid users would for the most part have to pay a $200 premium on their desired device. That extra fee is compensation to Verizon Wireless for the subsidy that is normally paid for by the device manufacturer in exchange for carriage on the company's network.

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

In what could potentially be the first serious challenge to Apple's dominance in the tablet sector, Samsung Thursday debuted the Galaxy Tab, a 7-inch Android powered tablet device. It will initially be available in European markets later this month, with a broader worldwide launch shortly afterward.

Although the device's screen size is smaller than the iPad, much of the rest of the specifications are quite similar. The Tab includes a 1GHz processor; up to 64GB of storage space; 3G, Bluetooth, and 802.11 wireless connectivity, and high definition playback of digital content.

One thing it does have that the iPad does not is a front and back facing camera: the front one is 1.3 megapixels, while the back camera would support 3 megapixels as well as an LED flash.

No announcement was made as to the pricing for the new device, nor carrier partners for the included 3G connectivity.

Samsung says the Tab, which is part of the company's broader line of "Galaxy" Android devices, is only the first of a line of tablet devices from the manufacturer. "Samsung recognizes the tremendous growth potential in this newly created market," mobile chief JK Shun said in a statement.

He said that the Tab was designed to maximize the user's online experience, and would "push the market in new directions." Built upon Android's 2.2 "Froyo" update, the Tab also includes something that has notoriously been left out of the iPad: Flash.

Adobe Flash 10.1 is supported, which Samsung extols the Tab as being able to view every single web page as the developer intended. In order to make these same pages viewable correctly on the iPad, some web developers have had to tweak their designs to take advantage of HTML5 vis a vis Flash, which could be inconvenient.

Getting into the e-reader business is something that Samsung is also interested in: each Tab would come with an application called the "Readers Hub," which would link into a library of content. The hub concept would also translate into other forms of media discovery including a "Music Hub" and "Media Hub."

The Korean manufacturer did not specify if it would use proprietary or open technologies to deliver this content to users.

Among many of the first looks given of the Samsung Galaxy Tab today, mobile messaging and VoIP software maker Fring gave a quick peek at video chatting on the device.

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

Is Apple going to compel me to write another "I was wrong post?" Yesterday I extolled Ping -- Apple's new social music discovery tool -- based on features and product strategy. Finally, late last night, Apple widely distributed iTunes 10, giving me the chance to finally use Ping. The results aren't good. The discovery tool is simply useless, because Ping doesn't reflect my current music listening habits.

One of Ping's most important personal features is "What I Like." It can automatically display 10 popular songs, allowing friends to see what the Ping user (hereafter referred to as Pinger) listens to (there is a manual option, too). "What I Like" is crucial to music discovery friend-to-friend, and it broadcasts the Pinger's music tastes to the world. How embarrassing for the teen chugging Ke$ha, B.o.B., and Katy Perry, only to find Ping plunking Perry Como into "What I Like."

My list of 10 preselected songs is totally surprising. I haven't listened to one of these tunes in months. Some are MP3 files purchased from Amazon and others are AAC tracks bought from iTunes. I've looked through the songs and so far can see only one commonality: I don't listen to them much. Ah, isn't that the opposite of what Ping is supposed to do? Sure, there are many more songs that I listen to less, but many others I do more. Ping rightly reflects past listening habits as current. How dumb is that?

Among the songs, Ping asserts that I like:

• "Your Love is a Drug" by Ke$ha
• "The Beauty in Ugly" by Jason Mraz
• "This River is Wild" by The Killers
• "Warning" by Green Day
• "Shadow of the Day" by Linkin Park

These are all bands I do listen to. I don't recall ever listening to the Jason Mraz song. Last.fm or Zune.net would let people know what I listen to most and most recently. There's simply nothing current about Ping. Here's my confessed musical reality:

1. Last five played songs:

• "Banquet" by Bloc Party
• "The Ghost Inside" by Broken Bells
• "Too Dramatic" by Ra Ra Riot
• "Bourgeois Shangri-La" by Miss Li
• "Hate to Say I Told You So" by The Hives

2. Most played songs:

• "Shattered (Turn the Car Around)" by O.A.R.
• "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train
• "You Won't Know" by Brand New
• "Narcotic" by No Second Troy
• "Fortress" by Pinback

3. My current fav albums:

• "The Orchard" by Ra Ra Riot
• "Beneath It All" by Hey Monday
• "The Script" by The Script
• "The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me" by Brand New
• "Silent Alarm" by Bloc Party

Does Ping represent you, because it sure doesn't reflect me. This morning I tweeted: "Does Ping accurately represent what you like? Tweet back w/answer. I'm writing a story about Ping's music choices." Paul Sorensen responded: "It represents what I listen to, which is perhaps different than what I would like to think of myself as liking."

Adam Hall quipped: "I ticked Alternative and Rock options, and it recommended Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. that's a #fail to me!" But follow-up tweets revealed Ping's musical recommendations to Hall, not what he supposedly listens to.

Another problem: I went to bed with a Facebook Connect option, but it was gone this morning. Over at All Things Digital, Peter Kafka tries to answer: "What Happened to Apple's Ping/Facebook Connection?" Regardless, Ping is off to a somewhat rockier start than I would have guessed from yesterday's demo.

If Ping can't accurately display "What I Like" the service is useless to me. How about you? Have you used Ping? Are you satisfied? I ask Last.fm or Zune.net users to pipe in about these services compared to Ping. Please respond in comments.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Thursday, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada announced a recall of three Toshiba Satellite T-series notebook computers: T135, T135D and ProT130, for reports that the units' AC adaptors cause them to overheat and melt.

Though there have been no injuries reported, the CPSC said it received 129 reports of the computer cases melting and deforming, presenting a fire and burn hazard.

Toshiba's own recall notice says the problem stems from a potentailly faulty DC-In harness, which "in some circumstances, overheat to the point of melting the computer's base at the location where the AC adaptor plugs into the unit."

Owners of these notebooks are advised to immediately update their BIOS, which will determine if the DC harness is failing.

Toshiba says, "If the harness failure is detected while the system is operating you will receive a system message indicating that the failure has occurred and that external power has been disabled. You may continue to use the system, without risk of overheating, using the remaining battery charge. You should immediately close all open files and applications to avoid any data loss. Once the data has been saved the system should be properly shutdown. It will not be possible to recharge the battery within the system until it has been repaired."

The recall encompasses three Satellite models, but as many as 40 different SKUs.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Telecommunications company Alcatel-Lucent Thursday announced that the first voice call in the 700MHz band of LTE has been completed. This is the section of wireless spectrum that is being utilized in the United States' national public safety network.

Part of the FCC's National Broadband Plan (Chapter 16, to be exact) outlines the creation of a nationwide interoperable public safety wireless broadband communications network, used specifically for first responders and issues of national importance. The high speed network will utilize a 10MHz block of spectrum in the 700MHz band, and approval for construction has been obtained in a growing number of markets.

"This achievement represents an important step toward revolutionizing public safety networks as it establishes the readiness of LTE as a technology to enable broadband data applications," said Morgan Wright, Vice President, Global Public Safety Segment at Alcatel-Lucent.

The call also demonstrates the company's readiness to supply its hardware and solutions to local governments building their 700MHz networks. Alcatel-Lucent has been selected to provide the hardware for five commercial LTE deployments already, including Verizon Wireless and AT&T, but competitor Nokia-Siemens secured the deal for LightSquared's ambitious $7 Billion hybrid Satellite/LTE network that will be built with the express purpose of wholesaling to carriers.

Disclosure: Tim Conneally is an Alcatel-Lucent shareholder.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Samsung Thursday announced its latest two-chip wireless USB solution capable of transmission speeds up to 480Mbps with an actual throughput rate of 200Mbps. The result is reportedly ten times more power efficient than 802.11g Wi-Fi.

The product is made up of two chips, S3C2680, a baseband processor with an ARM 9 core, built-in NAND flash controller, SD I/O, and two USB 2.0 PHYs; and S5M8311a, a separate RF transciever.

The chips can be deployed in SD cards, USB dongles, or embedded directly into consumer electronics. Samsung says the solution is especially suited for digital cameras and HD camcorders for high throughput local content sharing.

"The ability to handle wireless high-speed data transmission while consuming less power is a key requirement for many consumer electronic devices," said Yiwan Wong, vice president, System LSI marketing, Samsung Electronics. "Due to power/performance issues, previous generations of [Wireless USB] products were unable to meet the consumers' expectations. Samsung's new WUSB chipset delivers up to 480Mbps (Megabit per second) data transmission rate, at an average power consumption of less than 300mW. This level of power efficiency greatly increases the attractiveness of WUSB connectivity in consumer electronic and mobile applications."

Mass production of the chips is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2010.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

The bidding war between HP and Dell over virtualized storage company 3PAR is in its third week, and as of Thursday morning, HP looks to have won. The Palo Alto IT giant turned the tables on Dell with a $2 billion bid last Friday that caused 3PAR to announce it was terminating the merger agreement it had reached with Dell in mid-August.

When Dell received 3PAR's notice of termination, it raised its acquisition offer once again, from $27 per share to $32, and modified the terms of its proposal to include an increased termination fee of $92 million.

3PAR's board of directors determined Dell's offer to be unacceptable, and HP fired back with a counter-offer to buy 3PAR's outstanding common stock for $33 per share.

Thursday morning, the board of directors at 3PAR determined that HP's revised offer was the "Superior Proposal," and again let Dell know its intention of terminating the merger agreement.

Dell responded by saying it would place no further bids.

"We took a measured approach throughout the process and have decided to end these discussions," said Dave Johnson, Dell's senior vice president of corporate strategy. "We believe our strategy of creating open, affordable and capable solutions resonates well with customers and will enable us to continue to outgrow the industry."

Brian Gladden, chief financial officer at Dell said, "We will continue to put the interests of our customers and shareholders at the forefront of all our decisions. Our focus is to create long-term value."

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

While the over-the-top (OTT) streaming entertainment category has not made a big dent in the mainstream home TV viewing market yet, it's a hot business, and service providers, software makers, and hardware manufacturers are all jockeying for the biggest piece of the pie.

When AppleTV debuted alongside the iPhone at Macworld in 2007, it was more or less a stripped-down home theater PC so users could enjoy their iTunes media on their televisions. Relatively little had changed on the platform until today, when Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the box would lose its storage capacity and become rental-only, gain Netflix streaming and drop in price to $99. Jobs said these changes were based upon feedback provided by AppleTV users.

The change has made AppleTV a lot more like Roku's Netflix streamer, which debuted in 2008 and made a strong impression for providing an affordable and enjoyable iPTV experience without the need for a powerful computer hooked up to your TV.

"Roku created the category for streaming players over two years ago with the original Netflix player for $99," Roku's Director of Corporate Communications Brian Jaquet said today. "Since then, the category has continued to grow rapidly with large hardware entrants like Xbox, PS3, Wii, blu-ray players, and now AppleTV adding streaming capabilities. At the same time, content is becoming more readily available thanks to Netflix's increasing popularity, but also from Amazon, MLB.TV and most recently Hulu Plus." Just one day before Apple announced its new AppleTV, Roku slashed the prices of its three set-top boxes to $59.99, $69.99, and $99.99. At the highest end, the streamer supports 1080p high def and dual-band 802.11n wireless.

"Roku is completely confident that our strategy of offering more features and lower cost than competitors continues to be the right plan," Jaquet said.

Boxee, the hot XBMC-based media center that will launch its first set top box in November with hardware partner D-Link, is taking a similar, but opposite approach to Apple's new product.

"We all watched the Apple announcement," Boxee's Avner Ronen said this afternoon. "We walked away feeling strongly confident about the space it left for Boxee to compete. We have a different view of what users want in their living rooms. We are taking different paths to get there. The Boxee Box is going to be $100 more expensive than the Apple TV, but will give you the freedom to watch what you want. We think it's worth it."

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

Apple's September 1 music event ended on a sour note. Coldplay's Chris Martin gave a tepid and pitchy performance that would have sent him packing from an American Idol audition. Michael Stanclift aptly tweeted: "This guy could have practiced before this gig." Martin, whose daughter is named Apple, seemed like the right performer for what was otherwise an outstanding event. While Martin muffed, Apple -- the company, not his child -- hit every key. Not since the first iPod nano launched five years ago has Apple delivered such spectacular new music products.

For the past week, pundits and rumormongers spewed forth the most ridiculous and seemingly sensible conjecture about what Apple would announce today. Nearly every rumor was wrong. There was a new Apple TV, but with no storage, no apps and no gaming capabilities. It's a Roku with a nicer design and streaming support for Apple services and devices, Netflix and YouTube. Yes, there are 99-cent TV rentals as rumored, but only from ABC and Fox -- and they're all HD. Otherwise, the rumors missed all the significant stuff, even the most important details about the new multitouch iPod nano. Who guess right about iTunes 10? There was no iLife `11 as rumored, among the other bits of mistaken reporting (and blogging).

By far, Ping is the biggest single announcement. "Ping is for social music discovery," Jobs said during today's Apple event. People can "sign up for Ping immediately." That "immediately" depends on when you can get iTunes 10, into which Ping is built. As I write, Apple has placed notice "iTunes 10. Coming Soon." on the download page. Based on Twitter chatter, some people have the software. But not me. So my first-take Ping analysis is based on the strategy and not actual usage.

Apple is a surprising latecomer to the social sharing/networking circus. Ping is but the first of the day's two entrants. The other is the new FaceTime-supporting iPod touch, which I predict will be a big seller this holiday. I tweeted during the event: "OK teens, will your new 'face' be FaceTime instead of Facebook?" I'll circle back to the "Why?" in a few paragraphs.

In watching Jobs' announce Ping, I suddenly time traveled, first to January 2001 and then to October of the same year. In January, Apple announced iTunes 1.0. In October, the first iPod shipped. Both product launches marked Apple's late entry into music products and services. The media software wasn't just about managing music but being able to rip from CDs and later sync to iPod. I time traveled because of what made the iTunes/iPod combo eventually successful: People already owned content. There was no need to buy more to fill iPod. Users could just rip from CDs they already owned.

PIng is somewhat similar. People already have the content around which they will interact with others. Similarly, Ping users (hereafter referred to as Pingers) can discover new music through social interaction with people who own music of potential interest. "Facebook and Twitter meet iTunes," Jobs said of Ping. That's an apt description.

Ping really is two services with intertwined objectives. The first is social interaction around artists, whose activities Pingers can follow. Artists post updates, photos, videos, playlists and concert information to their fan subscribers. I'm somewhat surprised that Fox is one of Apple's TV-rental partners, because Ping is quite likely a MySpace Music killer. Ping offers many of the same benefits, and music buying is just a click or two from discovery. If Apple and the artists are really smart, they'll use "Facebook and Twitter meet iTunes" feeds for making exclusive offers.

The second objective is around non-artists -- as in friends. Around them are three main points of discovery: following, and seeing what they're listening to; seeing what friends of friends are listening to; and who is attending local concerts. Additionally, the discovery feature produces music charts for people Pingers follow.

I see lots of potential in Ping, which integration into iTunes for Macs/Windows PCs, iPhone and iPod touch, make it a better fit than Microsoft's socially-oriented Zune. I'm a big fan of Zune, but too much of the experience is on the Web -- outside the core device/software/service. Apple has done what Microsoft should have: Created a more enclosed and sticky service. Pingers won't easily switch to something else, because of the iTunes enclosure.

Forrester Research analyst Mark Mulligan isn't as enamored with Ping as I am. He blogs:

This social functionality (which looks like the best of MySpace, Last.FM, Twitter and Facebook) will be a valuable way of driving music discovery. But it needs more. My guess is that within 12 months we'll see this upgraded with the resultant social data combined with Genius data to create a robust crowd sourced discovery tool.

Maybe, but there is something even more potentially powerful here: iOS devices and FaceTime. Artists can upload photos and videos to their Ping pages. Can regular Pingers do likewise? Since I still can't download iTunes 10, I don't have an answer. But what if they could use iPhone or iPod touch to shoot concert photos or video clips (short enough to avoid copyright problems) and post to their Ping feed? The tools are there. Only the connections are necessary.

FaceTime is potentially huge, separately and as part of the social iTunes interaction someone is sure to call Pinging. FaceTime and Ping are both social services, even if Apple fails to initially treat the video chat service that way. There's a synergy FaceTime and Ping share that Apple should exploit, and it's something competitors should copy -- even if badly.

Given just how much social sharing takes place around music and music events or those where music is a part (think any party), Apple could and should assemble together the hardware, services and software pieces placed before existing and new customers today. It's 2001 again and Apple is moving into territory occupied by others with something game changing. Apple came late to CD-burning, music software and MP3 players in 2001, just like it's following behind Facebook, Last.FM, MySpace Music, Twitter and many other social-oriented services today.

There was an earthquake in San Francisco today. The shockwaves will reverberate from iTunes 10, Ping, iPod touch and iOS 4.1. Apple is finally getting into social media. Perhaps it's fitting then that Chris Martin fumbled as a solo act. His strength comes from the group.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Microsoft announced that the highly anticipated Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system has been released to manufacturing on Wednesday, a major milestone for the project.

Following the release of its developer toolkit, Microsoft released Windows Phone 7 technical preview to its developer, carrier and manufacturing partners in July. Since that time, the mobile OS has been updated in a number of ways, such as including intelligent Facebook contact filtering (only real friends show up,) and the ability to "like" Facebook posts from within the People Hub.

"Windows Phone 7 is the most thoroughly tested mobile platform Microsoft has ever released. We had nearly ten thousand devices running automated tests daily, over a half million hours of active self-hosting use, over three and a half million hours of stress test passes, and eight and a half million hours of fully automated test passes," said Terry Myerson, corporate vice president of Windows Phone Engineering on Wednesday. "We've had thousands of independent software vendors and early adopters testing our software and giving us great feedback. We are ready."

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

In a sign that Windows 7 sales may be beginning to falter somewhat, Microsoft on Wednesday announced that it would be bringing back its Windows 7 Family Pack discount program. The offer gives multi-computer households the opportunity to upgrade three PCs to Windows 7 Home Premium.

The deal is available beginning October 3 at a price of $149.99. This is a considerable savings over individual upgrades: a single copy of Home Premium alone retails for $129.99. It is unclear when the promotion would end, although Microsoft began pulling last year's offer in December.

Statistics from IDC indicate that the average household has at least two computers, so it's not out of the question that reintroducing the offering could accelerate operating system sales for Microsoft once again.

Selling the family pack likely helped Microsoft escalate Windows 7 adoption, while at the same time giving it a crucial revenue stream in an overall tough economy for the technology sector. About 175 million licenses have been sold to date according to the company.

Its reintroduction could also signal that adoption is beginning to slow again. According to statistics firm Net Applications, 15.87 percent of all Internet surfers were running Windows 7, versus 14 percent for Vista. That was nowhere near Windows XP though, which still has nearly 61 percent of the market.

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

Apple's hobby got a little more serious on Wednesday as the Cupertino company debuted a much smaller and cheaper version of its AppleTV set-top box. The device also heralds the introduction of rentable TV shows, a move that had been widely expected.

The new AppleTV device is less than a quarter of the size of its predecessor, and has no storage space. Instead users would stream content from Apple's servers, and content available to the box would be rent-only.

Users can either choose to use the built-in Wi-Fi or wired ethernet for Internet connectivity, and the device would be connected to the TV through its included HDMI port.

First-run movies would remain at $4.99, however instead of the $2.99 purchase price for individual episodes of TV shows, they would now be rentable for 99 cents. The device would also allow for iOS devices to control it -- for example, beginning to watch content on the iPad, then continue viewing from the AppleTV-connected television.

Price of the device too has dropped, going from $229 in the current generation to $99. Jobs said in the company's music event that the changes were based on feedback from AppleTV users.

Jobs seemed to express some frustration onstage when disclosing that only ABC and Fox had so far signed up to offer their TV content for rent. However, he said he was sure the remaining major networks would sign on once the company can prove that the model would indeed work. BBC America and Disney Channel content would also be available.

Netflix subscribers would be able to use AppleTV to view movies from the service, and as before it would include YouTube functionality.

BusinessWeek reported last week that Jobs does not believe that the AppleTV would be a mainstream hit, according to its sources. Instead he and other executives think the device would become popular among those looking to "catch up" on shows that they missed. This was how the company was reportedly marketing the rental service to content providers.

Jobs said the device would be available in about four weeks, although consumers would be able to pre-order beginning today.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Nokia's cloud-based "digital locker" service Ovi Files will be shut down on October first, Nokia is warning users. The service was used for making files remotely accessible through a mobile device's browser.

Nokia added Files to the suite of Ovi services in 2008 after it acquired digital locker startup Avevenu. When we tested the service back in 2008, Nokia said it planned to make Files a premium service, but it was ultimately made free in 2009. Files was significant because it was the first service in Nokia's Ovi suite that utilized the Nokia account ID.

Because Files was a simple "mirror" service (i.e. files weren't re-located to the cloud, but instead just copied there) the discontinuation of the service will not affect users' files.

"You will still be able to share content between your phone and PC using another Nokia product, Nokia Ovi Suite," Nokia said to users today. "With Nokia Ovi Suite installed on your PC, you can do the following: sync your contacts and messages; transfer videos, photos, and music; back up your Nokia and update your device software. Please note that this is not a direct substitute for Ovi Files as Nokia Ovi Suite requires a wired connection between your PC and mobile device."

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

At Apple's annual iPod refresh event today, Apple CEO Steve Jobs revealed the "biggest change in the iPod lineup ever," which included dramatic changes to both the Nano and Shuffle which seem to reverse advancements made to the models last year.

Last year, Apple unveiled a shockingly small iPod shuffle which had no buttons. Instead, the controls for the device were put on the headphone cord, and required that users purchase an adaptor to use any headphones other than those made for the Shuffle. This year, Apple looks to have completely undone what was attempted with last year's Shuffle, and has brought back the design from the previous year which has the clickable control pad directly on the surface of the device.

This model adds a dedicated VoiceOver button, which activates the voice navigation system which recites artist names, song titles, playlists, and battery status in 25 different languages.

The 2GB iPod Shuffle costs $49 and comes in five colors.

Last year, Jobs called the iPod Nano "the most popular music player in the world," when he announced that the device would have a larger 2.2" screen, an onboard video camera, microphone and speaker, pedometer, FM radio, and voice recorder. But all of those features couldn't make the device as appealing as the iPod Touch with its robust app support and sophisticated gaming. The Nano was promptly overtaken in popularity by the iPod Touch, and sales of the device actually dropped.

This year, Apple has removed the clickwheel from the Nano and made it a simple clippable 1.54" square multitouch screen. The device retains its FM radio, Nike+ fitness mode, VoiceOver compatibility, and pedometer functionality, but, the video camera and voice recorder functionality championed in the last generation have been removed.

The iPod Nano comes in two capacities: 8GB for $149, and 16GB for $179.

Finally, the newest generation of iPod Touch has been brought up to speed with the iPhone 4, complete with its 1GHz A4 chip, the trademark 960 x 640 Retina Display, iOS 4.1, a three-axis gyroscope, a front- and rear-facing camera with support for FaceTime and HD video recording. While it is very similar to previous generations, the latest iPod Touch is only .28" thick.

The 2011 iPod Touch comes in three capacities: 8GB for $229, 32GB for $299, and 64GB for $399.

Though the iPod Classic was not mentioned in today's presentation, it has not been retired, as some had speculated. That particular iPod model remains unchanged.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Apple's annual iPod refresh has taken place in the first week of September for the last five years, and the event coincides with back-to-school Mac and iPod promotions. Since the iPod has held a dominant share of the United States' portable media player (PMP) market, this is often the time of year when other consumer electronics companies debut new PMPs for the back-to-school season too.

This year, in the days surrounding Apple's September 1 event, Sandisk, Phillips, Archos, and Samsung have all revealed new media players that will compete against the newly-refreshed 2010-2011 iPod line.

Sandisk Sansa Fuze+

Milpitas, California-based flash memory giant Sandisk is one of Apple's principal competitors in the sub-$100 media player space. On Tuesday, the company announced its updated Sansa Fuze+ media player which strikes at Apple's new Nano and undercuts it by just about $60. This year's model replaces the Fuze's clickwheel with a capacitive touch panel, and eliminates the proprietary dock connector in favor of a MicroUSB port. It is available in various colors and capacities: the 4GB model costs $79, 8GB costs $89, and 16GB costs $119.As usual, they all come equipped with MicroSD slots for Sandisk's storage and slotRadio cards.

Archos 28IT, 32IT, and 43IT

Archos is charging ahead with a full line of Android-powered devices this fall. Because all of the devices are equipped with 802.11b/g/n, Archos classes them as "Internet tablets." The 28IT has a 2.8" touchscreen, a 600MHz ARM Cortex A8 processor and 4GB of storage, it will be available in September starting at $99. The 32IT has a 3.2" touchscreen, an 800MHz ARM Cortex A8 processor and 8GB of storage, it also has a video camera and will launch in mid-September for $149. The 43IT has a 4.3" resistive touchscreen, a 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor, 8GB of storage, an HD video camera, Micro SD slot and HDMI output. The Archos 43IT will launch in October for $279. All of the devices will ship with FroYo, the most current version of the Android operating system.

Phillips GoGear Connect

Archos isn't the only company aligning with Android in its line of media players. At IFA in Berlin, Phillips announced its 3.2" touchscreen GoGear Connect Mp4 player will ship with "the full Android experience" at the end of October in the US, Western Europe and China. In addition to offering Wi-fi connectivity, a video and still camera, and sound isolation headphones, Phillips bundles the experience with the powerful Songbird desktop media manager software.

Samsung YP-Q3 and YP-U6

Samsung has added two new media players to its long list of devices, the YP-Q3 and YP-U6, which it will also be showing off at IFA in Berlin this week. Samsung has only revealed a little bit about these devices so far, but more info is coming. The YP-Q3 supports 5.1 channel audio output and a battery that promises 45 hours of continuous music playback thanks to the SoundAlive sound processing technology. The YP-U6 is designed for workout use and includes "fitness mode" with a calorimeter and voice feedback. It promises to have a 20 hour battery life.