“Despite the hype in recent days about its iTunes-enabled cell phone called the Rokr, Apple Computer introduced a new ultra-thin iPod on Wednesday that stole the show,” Therese Poletti reports for Knight Ridder. “At a press conference Wednesday in San Francisco, Apple unveiled a widely anticipated iTunes cell phone with Motorola and Cingular Wireless. Chief Executive Steve Jobs then upstaged the iTunes phone with a super-thin digital music player, a 1.5 ounce device called the iPod nano.”

Poletti reports, “Jobs said that the iPod nano will replace the iPod mini, and predicted that it will eventually succeed the mini as Apple’s best-selling digital music player. ‘Everyone in the store is asking ‘Where is the nano?” said Andrew Smith, a Macintosh sales specialist at Apple’s San Francisco store near Union Square. ‘They will be here starting tomorrow.’ Joel Wagonfeld, an analyst at First Albany, raised his fourth quarter earnings estimates on Apple, saying he expects higher revenues, in part due to new product sales, including new iPods.” [Note: First Albany's target price on Apple (APPL) has been raised from $48 to $53.]

Poletti reports, “Some analysts noted that consumers are not clamoring to listen to music on their cell phones. Forrester Research said one of its recent studies showed that only 13 percent of online consumers ages 12 to 17 were interested in such a feature, and 78 percent of online consumers older than 18 had no interest in using their cell phone to play audio tracks.”

Full article here.

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