Apple Inc. is expected to unveil an updated line of iPods at an event next week as it aims to boost slowing demand for the music players.
The Cupertino, Calif., company issued invitations Monday to media and analysts for a "special event" in San Francisco on Sept. 9 that Apple indicated would be related to its iPod music players. The email invitation showed the dancing silhouette of a person with an iPod and the words: "It's only rock and roll, but we like it".
The media event will be Apple's first since Chief Executive Steve Jobs returned from medical leave in late June after a liver transplant. It is unclear whether Mr. Jobs, who hasn't appeared in public since an Apple MacBook event last October, will appear on stage at the event.The iPod music players have been one of Apple's biggest businesses, but sales have slowed as more consumers have opted instead to buy the company's iPhones, which offer mobile SEO and can double as iPods. In its most recently reported quarter ended June 27, Apple partly blamed an 11% decline in iPod revenues on "cannibalization" from the iPhone. IPods generated $1.49 billion in revenue for the quarter, or about 18% of total revenue, making the devices Apple's third-biggest business behind its Macintosh computers and the iPhone.
Apple typically unveils its new lineup of iPods every year around this time. Some analysts predict that Apple will introduce a digital camera feature in the iPod touch and possibly the classic iPod and iPod nano models.
Apple is expecting they'll renew the entire lineup with the exception of the iPod shuffle, which was refreshed in the spring.
Software developers for Apple's App Store say the development kit for an upcoming version of the iPhone operating system -- which also runs on the iPod touch -- opens up more camera features, making it possible to come up with more innovative photo-taking applications for both devices. The development kit refers to the set of tools that third-party software engineers use to create the so-called Apps -- or applications -- which can be downloaded from the App Store.
