iPod Shuffle for $49

Apple today slashed the price of the 1GB iPod Shuffle from $79 to $49, making it the most affordable iPod ever.

The 37.9% price cut is even steeper than the $200 (33%) cut in iPhone prices that Apple announced last September. The company took advantage of rapidly falling memory prices to offer its customers the lowest entry point in the iPod’s six year history.

Apple also announced that a new, 2GB Shuffle will be available later this month for $69.

Blackberry Pearl

In a bid to generate a larger consumer base, 'Research in Motion' has launched a 14.5mm thick consumer focus handset named 'Blackberry Pearl'. The company is surely hoping to tap into a market already enjoyed by Nokia and Sony Ericsson. The BlackBerry Pearl comes complete with digital camera, multimedia capabilities and an expandable memory slot for the first time, while still offering its trademark interface.

The phone sports a crisp large (240 x 260) display similar to the HTC's MTeoR 3G handset however building on the MTeoR, BlackBerry has included its SureType QWERTY keypad. Beneath it's sleek exterior, which measures just 4.2 x 1.97 x 0.57" and weighs 88 grams, the BlackBerry Pearl is a quad-band GSM/GPRS and EDGE-enabled, however not 3G and comes with 64MB flash memory expandable to an additional 2GB with a MicroSD card.

It also features a speakerphone and Bluetooth 2.0 for use with hands-free headsets, car kits and other Bluetooth peripherals such as a GPS receiver. Hoping to appeal to consumers rather than just business users the phone features a 1.3 megapixel camera with built-in flash and 5x digital zoom.

Furthermore in an attempt to appeal to more consumers than previously RIM has added a media player and stereo headset for music and videos on the go. MP3 and ACC music files and MPEG4 and H.263 video files are supported.

The BlackBerry Pearl will be available from T-Mobile in the United States beginning September 12.

Microsoft's iPod-Rival: Zune

Microsoft confirmed the rumors about the iPod killer on Friday, stating that the future MP3 player named 'Zune' would be in market in the forthcoming holiday season.

Microsoft also confirmed that its iPod killer will feature wireless fidelity capabilities and a hard-drive (probably Flash-NAND based) for storing tunes. Microsoft is also promising a better-quality screen then the iPod. Even though the company remained mum about any new music download service, we may expect Microsoft to release a rival to iTunes as well. Currently, Apple's iTunes music store is used for 72% of music downloads, while Microsoft's store represents only 3%.

But Apple may also come up with new attractive updates to the iPod at its annual developer’s conference in San Francisco next month. While wireless downloading is one possibility, many are speculating about an iPod cellphone or a new video iPod with a larger screen.

Talking iPod

The world of music is currently dominated by Apple whose iPods and iTunes claim about 80% of the music player share in the U.S. Reports and rumors surfaced last week that Microsoft would come up with a new player to challenge iPod just before christmas but Microsoft issued a statement on Friday denying to have shown or briefed the music industry any such music player.

In any case, in order to keep its domination intact, Apple has introduced a talking iPod today. The device will convert the names of bands, albums and songs into recognizable voice patterns. The iPod will announce what is going to play in advance of it coming on, and allow users to change selections with voice commands.

Apple maintains that the device will be safer for those who are engaging in an activity such as driving or bicycling, where looking at the screen to change songs may be dangerous. A patent application indicates that it will use the same speech technology common in Apple's Macintosh computers.