Apple releases the iTunes phone, iTunes 5 and iPod nano (UPDATE)

As reported on our coverage, during a special event that took place today at the Moscone Center, San Fransisco, Apple announced the much anticipated iTunes phone, iTunes 5 and the iPod nano.

Here is a summary of the event :

Apple started the conference by announcing some figures. The company claims 80% of the US and UK market share for iTunes Music Store. Later in the conference, Jobs also reminded that the iPod's market share is 74% and that the company has sold more than 22 million iPods.

Apple also announced that four new car brands will add iPod connectivity support in their products: Honda, Acura (owned by Honda), Audi and Volkswagen.

The iTunes phone is co-developed with Motorola and will be available exclusively to Cingular at the moment. It can hold 100 songs and has the same features as the iPod shuffle (auto-fill, shuffle, audiobooks, podcasts) and comes with stereo ear-phones.

The company announced that all Madonna's songs will be made available on iTunes. Madonna appeared on iChat through video-conference and told a few words about Apple's products its forthcoming album. The ROKR phone will be promoted with a TV ad campaign that will feature Madonna among other artists.

Cingular is also going to promote the new product. Steve Jobs invited Ralph de la Vega, Cingular's Chief Operating Officer on the event. He developed his vision on the convergence of Music and mobile phones.

iTunes 5 brings some great new features: among them, smart shuffle which is an intelligent shuffle feature that takes care about how often the songs are played. The new version of iTunes also brings playlist folders and parental protection for explicit songs. The Windows version of iTunes can now sync with Calendar and Adressbook.

The iPod nano is a smaller version of the iPod mini, it has 14 hours of battery life and is available in two models: 2GB and 4GB, respectively prices $199 and $249. It has a color screen and supports photo features.

Apple also unveiled some accessories for the new iPod nano: a dock ($29), a lanyard with built-in headphones ($39), color-coordinated armbands ($29) and nanotubes which 5 slipcases, each one of a different color ($29).

Kanye West ended the event by performing two of his hits: "All Falls Down" and "Gold Digger"

UPDATE: The Apple online store is open again with the new iPod nano and its accessories available for ordering. Apple has also updated its product pages, and its iTunes/iPod site. A new section features the iTunes phone which can be ordered only through Cingular.