Apple® today announced the new iPod touch®, packed with incredible new features including Apple’s stunning Retina™ display, FaceTime® video calling, HD video recording, Apple’s A4 chip, 3-axis gyro, iOS 4.1 and Game Center—all combined in the thinnest and lightest iPod touch ever. The new iPod touch features up to 40 hours of music playback and seven hours of video playback on a single battery charge.

“We’ve put our most advanced technology inside the new iPod touch,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Whether you’re listening to music, playing games, making FaceTime video calls, browsing the web, capturing HD video or watching TV shows and movies, the new iPod touch with its Retina display, A4 chip and 3-axis gyro is more fun than ever.”

Apple’s stunning Retina display makes everything on iPod touch look even more incredible, whether playing games, watching video, browsing the web or flicking through photos. The Retina display has 960 x 640 pixels—four times as many pixels than before. The resulting 326 pixels per inch is so dense that the human eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels when iPod touch is held at a normal distance, making text, images and video look sharper, smoother and more realistic.

With the new front-facing camera and mic, iPod touch users can make FaceTime video calls over Wi-Fi. With just one tap of the new FaceTime app, iPod touch users can call other new iPod touch or iPhone® 4 users** to easily see what their friends are up to, share important moments like the first day of school and even show others what they are seeing by easily switching to the rear-facing camera.

The rear-facing camera on iPod touch is perfect for HD video recording. Users can easily capture HD video wherever they are and share it via email, MobileMe™ and YouTube. With the iMovie® app, users can combine movie clips, add dynamic transitions and themes and include photos and music right on their iPod touch. Users can buy and download the app for just $4.99 through the App Store℠ right on their iPod touch.

Apple’s A4 chip provides iPod touch users with exceptional processor and graphics performance along with long battery life. This remarkably fast and power-efficient chip, along with the Retina display and 3-axis gyro, makes games on iPod touch the best they’ve ever been on any mobile device.

iPod touch is the world’s most popular portable game player. Now with Game Center, iPod touch users can challenge and play friends or be matched automatically with new opponents. Game Center lets iPod touch users showcase their scores and achievements and discover new games their friends are playing. With the App Store on iPod touch, users have access to the world’s largest catalog of apps with over 250,000 apps, including over 65,000 game and entertainment titles to choose from.

Music and entertainment lovers can now easily access iTunes® Ping directly from their new iPod touch. iTunes Ping lets you follow your favorite artists and friends to discover the music they’re talking about, listening to and downloading. iPod touch users also have the entire iTunes Store® at their fingertips, giving them instant access to the world’s largest catalog of music, TV shows and movies.

The new iPod touch comes with iOS 4.1, the newest version of the world’s most advanced mobile operating system. iOS 4.1 enables new features like FaceTime video calling, multitasking, folders and Game Center.

iPod is the world’s most popular family of digital music players with over a quarter billion sold. Apple’s new holiday lineup includes a brand new iPod shuffle® for just $49; the amazing new iPod nano® with Multi-Touch™ starting at just $149; the incredible new iPod touch with Retina display, Apple’s A4 chip, FaceTime, HD video recording and Game Center starting at just $229; and the iPod classic® in a 160GB model for $249.

Pricing & Availability
The new iPod touch will be available next week for a suggested price of $229 (US) for the 8GB model, $299 (US) for the 32GB model and $399 (US) for the 64GB model through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. iPod touch requires a Mac® with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS® X v10.5.8 or later and iTunes 10 or later; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 3) or later and iTunes 10 or later. Existing second and third generation iPod touch users can update to iOS 4.1 free of charge on September 8 to enjoy new features including Game Center.