Apple drops prices on iPhones, MacBooks

SAN FRANCISCO

MOST POPULAR: Video, stories and more
SIGN-UP: Get breaking news sent to you from ABC7

It was not apple CEO Steve Jobs who delivered the keynote address at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco; the company's senior vice president of marketing Philip Schiller did instead.

There was not even a mention of the ailing CEO, who is recovering from a hormone imbalance. Jobs is expected to return from medical leave at the end of the month, but his absence is not affecting the company's bottom line. Apple has tripled the number of people using its operating system and there are 75 million users worldwide, thanks to the success of the iPhone and Macbook computers.

Apple unveiled a new lower model computer hoping to make a deeper dent in the PC market. The lower priced Mac notebook computer is targeted to go head to head with generally lower cost PCs. Analysts say this will help attract new users to Apple.

"From the standpoint of market impact it's just as important, it'll draw more people into Mac it will draw more people into iphones," industry analyst Tim Bajarin said.

To make sure that happens; Apple showed off improvements to the iPhone's software and announced that it is dropping the price. It will even offer one model for under $100.

A new faster model iPhone was unveiled as well. The 3G-S fills in some of the technological gaps in the smart phone; some of the new features include voice recognition, video and 3-megapixel camera.

"This is clearly an aggressive move by Apple to - especially with the $99 iPhone - to try and expand their market share," Bajarin said.

The $99 iPhones are already available. The new laptops and new iPhones will be in stores later this month.

Much of Apple's increasing mobile business is tied to the success of the applications they run. Earlier this year Apple announced that it had sold more than 1 billion "apps" at its iTunes store, thanks in large part to the company's code sharing with programmers.

Written and produced by Ken Miguel

       Today's latest headlines | ABC7 News on your phone
Follow us on Twitter | Fan us on Facebook | Get our free widget

Copyright © 2024 KGO-TV. All Rights Reserved.