Apple launches new product

The technology world was abuzz with speculation as Apple Computer Inc. unveiled plans for a mysterious big announcement less than a month after launching its iPod nano music player.

Industry analysts predict the announcement – scheduled for October 12 in the US city of San Jose, near San Francisco, and in London – would be the launch of an iPod video player or a smaller but more powerful music iPod.

Apple set the cat among the pigeons when it sent out email invitations to an event at the California Theatre in San Jose or at London’s BBC Television Centre.

Under the legend "One More Thing …", the invitation boasts a tantalising picture of a closed red curtain.

Apple founder and chief executive Steve Jobs traditionally uses "One more thing" to preface the firm’s major launches.

The invitations came almost exactly a year after Apple used the same venue in California to debut the iPod Photo and U2 iPods at an event that featured Bono and The Edge of the Irish rock band U2.

Analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray said a video iPod would pack a "wow factor" when released but warned it would have to cost less than 400 dollars and have a sizeable library of downloadable videos available when it launches to avoid becoming a niche product.

But, he said, a video iPod would "open the door for future product innovations as the company continues to branch out" into other areas of digital and mobile entertainment products.

For months, industry watchers have been looking for Apple to roll out an iPod that can play videos and music, as firms such as Sony Corp. begin encroaching on Apple’s dominance of the portable music-player market.

Apple currently leads the market with share of about 75 percent.

The firm said it had sold more than six million iPods during its last fiscal quarter, bringing total sales of the device to more than 22 million.

Inet-Bridge