Print this articleEmail this article Apple on Wednesday launched a music-centred social network at iTunes and unveiled slick new iPod and Apple TV gadgets that promised to win the iconic company more devotees.

Ping was built into iTunes 10 software made available as a free download at itunes.com.

"It is sort of like Facebook and Twitter meet iTunes," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said. "It is not Twitter. It is something else we've come up with. It's all about music," he said.

Ping will automatically be available to the more than 160 million iTunes members worldwide when they update to the new version.

Jobs introduced Ping along with a dramatically overhauled iPod line and a second-generation of Apple TV box that streams television shows and movies over the Web to high-definition TV sets. He said the Apple TV device would cost US$99, down from US$229.

The new iPod Touch allows for video calling. It has front- and rear-facing cameras, which let a user hold video chats with iPhone or other iPod Touch owners using Wi-Fi and a program called "FaceTime".

The Touch got the vivid screen from the latest generation iPhone.

AFP