Apple CEO Steve jobs revealed a thinner, more game-friendly iPod Touch at a Wednesday Apple event attended by Gamasutra.
Aside from slimmer dimensions, the updated version of the device, which hits stores next week, will have the A4 chip found in the iPhone 4 and iPad, the sharper Retina Display screen, a 3-axis gyro for increased control, a front and rear camera (the latter with HD recording) and iOS 4.1, which includes the Game Center social network.
The new iPod Touch will come in three flavors: 8GB for $229, 32GB for $299 and 64GB for $399. Apple CEO Steve Jobs said the iPod Touch last year overtook the iPod nano as the company's most popular iPod.
Apple said it's making major inroads into the competitive portable gaming market. Jobs claimed the iPod Touch "has become the most popular portable game player in the world. The iPod Touch outsells Nintendo and Sony portable game players combined."
He added, "It has over 50 percent market share for both the U.S. and worldwide. It has by far become the most popular game player in the world. And over 1.5 billion games and entertainment downloads have been downloaded from iTunes just to the iPod Touch."
Total application downloads on Apple devices have hit 6.5 billion units, Jobs said, with the App Store hosting 250,000 apps.
Worldwide, among dedicated portable game players, the Nintendo DS is the leader with over 130 million sold. Sales of the device are flagging, but Nintendo
recently cut prices on the hardware as the anticipated 3DS waits in the wings for a launch early next year. Sony's PlayStation Portable has sold 60 million units worldwide. Both the DS and PSP launched in 2004, while the iPod Touch launched more recently in 2007.
Since the launch of the iPhone in 2007, Jobs said iOS devices, including iPad, iPod and iPhone, have sold 120 million units worldwide.
Also on hand at the event Wednesday were Epic Games and subsidiary studio Chair Entertainment,
which revealed the Unreal Engine 3-powered iPhone game
Project Sword.
Apple also revealed the new iPod nano, a lighter, smaller version of the previous model that sells for $150 for the 8GB model and $180 for the 16GB model.
The company has been busy launching new devices this year -- it released the iPad in April, which sold 3 million units in its first three months, and the iPhone 4 in June, which sold 1.7 million in its first three days.
