Hoping to stimulate demand for its popular iPhone and MacBook laptops, Apple unveiled a faster phone on Monday and cut prices on modestly refreshed versions of its portable computers.
Apple's 13-inch MacBook also got back its Firewire port
The series of announcements at its Worldwide Developer’s Conference confirmed some product speculation on the Web and dashed other rumors.
The new iPhone makes use of a new processor to run applications faster and had been expected. But it remains the same size as existing models, confounding Apple watchers who have been anticipating a smaller version of the smart phone.
The $199 and $299 prices of the two versions of the new phone enabled Apple to lower the price of an entry-level version of the existing iPhone to $99. This also had been anticipated and duplicates pricing already available in Europe.
Apple added fixed, non-removable batteries to its 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pro laptops, extending their battery life. It also installed SD card readers and returned the missing Firewire port to its 13-inch model.
In doing so, it cut prices across the board. The high-end version of the MacBook Air now sells for $1,799 instead of $2,499 and the low-end version now is priced at $1,499.
Prices for the 13-inch MacBook Pro start at $1,199 and the 15-inch machine starts at $1,699.
Apple will release the latest version of its OS X computer operating system, Snow Leopard, in October. The software will be available as a $29 upgrade to users of the existing Leopard software.
