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Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) just concluded a press conference in which the company unveiled two new iPods. This announcement has been widely anticipated and the company did not disappont today. Steve Jobs led the press conference and showed the audience the new products. These new products are available in stores immediately.

The first new product, and probably the most widely anticipated, is the iPod Touch. The iPod Touch will have many of the same features as the iPhone, including the touchscreen technology, but without the cell phone capabilities. The iPod Touch also has Wi-Fi capabilities, and is basically an iPod web browser. The iPod touch is just 8mm thin, so it is a very slim device. This device looks very intriguing with a music player teaming up with a web browser to make a great new iPod. The iPod touch will be offered in 8GB storage, and 16GB storage. The 8GB offering will retail for $299 and the 16 GB for $399.

The second new major product offering that was announced today was the 2.5 inch video monitor iPod Nano. The new Nano will allow users to watch movies and play games on the 2.5 inch video screen that is a 320 by 240 pixel screen. There will be a 4GB and 8GB version, with the 4GB pricing at $149 and the 8GB at $199.

Apple also announced some major news regarding the popular iPhone. Steve Jobs announced that the price of the 8GB iPhone is being cut to $399, from the previous level of $599. He also said that the iPhone is on track to sell one million phones before the end of this month.

What does all of this news mean to AAPL and its competitors? AAPL shares are currently trading down about 3.34% today on a sell the news reaction. A primary competitor of Apple and the iPod line is SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) whose stock is down 5% on the day thus far. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has also tried to compete with Apple in this space, though it has been largely unsuccessful. Microsoft competes with the iPod lineup with the Microsoft Zune digital music player. Interestingly, Microsoft moved earlier today to cut the price of the Zune by $50 to try to help it comepete against the new line of iPods.

Apple shares have risen quickly over the last few weeks in anticipation of this release. It will be interesting to track the sales of these new products and see how much it can contribute to the company's bottom line in the next few quarters. The new line of iPods sets Apple up beautifully to benefit very nicely from this year's holiday shopping season.

If you wish to view a liveblog special event of the Apple announcement today, which details all the ins and the outs of the press conference, there is one available at Engadget.

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