Apple Unveils New Monitor, iPod, Bluetooth

Apple CEO Steve Jobs today unveiled two new products in his keynote address at Macworld Expo in Tokyo. A new 23-inch Apple Cinema HD Display with 1900 x 1200 high definition resolution joins the company’s existing flat-panel LCD monitors and will sell for $3,500 when it becomes available next month. (The 22-inch Apple Cinema Display, still available for $2,500, offers only 1600 by 1024 resolution.) The company says the new display’s resolution will allow editing of HDTV (high definition television) digital video "with room to spare." At the same time, Apple introduced a "bigger" iPod, a $500 version of the company’s portable MP3 player with a 10 GB internal hard drive, available immediately. The existing $400 model, with a 5 GB hard drive, remains available. For an extra $50, either model can be personalized at the Apple Store with laser engraving of two lines of text containing up to 27 characters each.

Jobs also previewed Apple’s upcoming support for Bluetooth. The short-range wireless communication technology is intended to link personal electronic devices such as computers, cell phones, and personal digital assistants when they’re in close proximity. Promising "a Bluetooth solution that actually works and is easy to use," Jobs said that, in early April of 2002, Mac OS X users will be able to download free preview software from Apple’s Web site for use with the D-Link USB Bluetooth adapter, itself to be offered at the Apple Store for $50. Apple’s Bluetooth software will automatically recognize other Bluetooth devices that come into range and offer to connect to them.