Cupertino, Calif. - At a media event on Wednesday, Apple (NASD:  AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs unveiled new designs for all of its iPods, a new version of iTunes with a music social network called Ping, the second generation of its Apple TV streaming video device, and a new iTunes Store movie and TV show rentals service. The new $99 Apple TV is one-fourth the size of the first model, and now exclusively supports a new rental model for movies and TV shows.

Jobs said iTunes features the largest library of HD movies — available day-and-date with DVD for $4.99 — as well as all of Netflix’s (NASD:  NFLX) Instant Streaming library for subscribers to that service.

Previously, HD TV show rentals cost $2.99, but will now cost 99 cents. The new rentals service launches only with programs from Disney’s (NYSE:  DIS) ABC and News Corp.’s (NYSE:  NWS) Fox.

Jobs unveiled new designs for all of Apple’s iPods, which to date have now sold 270 million units worldwide.

The iPod nano has eliminated all buttons in favor of a multi-touch screen, like the iPhone and iPad, and is now almost half as small and light as its predecessor – small enough that it features a clip like the iPod shuffle. The now-square-shaped device will sell for $149 (8GB) or $179 (16GB).

Jobs said the iPod touch is the top-selling iPod, and is now the top-selling portable game player — outselling Nintendo and Sony handheld game systems combined.

The device now features the "retina display" and Apple A4 chip found in the iPhone 4, a 3-axis gyro, an HD video camera, a front-facing camera and FaceTime — the new video chat feature on the iPhone. The new iPod touch will sell in 8GB ($229), 32GB ($299) and 64GB ($399) models.

A new iPod shuffle is smaller than the previous model, comes in five colors, features voice-over and playlist creation, and will sell for $49. All the new iPods are available for pre-order today, and will begin shipping next week.

Apple also introduced iTunes 10, an update to its software and store that has to date served 11.7 billion songs, 450 million TV epiodes, 100 million movies and 35 million books. The iTunes 10 software logo loses the CD icon — as next year the store is expected to overtake CD sales.

The iTunes Store update focuses on music discovery, with a new music-focused social network called "Ping."

Built into iTunes, Ping will let iTunes’ 160 million users follow friends and favorite artists, on computers as well as the iPhone and iPod touch.

Recent activity on the store by friends, as well as Twitter-like posts and photos from artists, appear in a "news feed" stream. Ping also provides a custom top-ten chart based on what a user’s friends are downloading on iTunes.

Apple provided a live stream of the event from its website — but only made it available for customers of its products — as the stream required either a Mac, iPhone, iPod touch or iPad running the company’s Safari browser to view.

The event ended with a live performance from Coldplay’s Chris Martin.

Clarification: A PR representative from Apple rival Amazon.com contacted DMW to ask if we’d clarify that Apple’s 35 million e-books figure refers to downloads served — not sold — from the iTunes Store, as the number includes free titles.

Related Links:

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/08/31alert.html