Ping! New iPods and social networking service unveiled, and the return of Apple TV

Speculation in the run up to Apple's launch event today was that new iPods would be on the cards, but in fact Apple had much more to offer in San Francisco this morning than a facelifted Touch. In fact there were three new things sharing the stage with Jobs at the event: new iPods, social networking, and Apple TV.

The new iPods, shown off first to save the exciting stuff for later, include a smaller (smaller still??) shuffle, a miniscule nano, and a super-duper new iPod touch with dual cameras for video calls via Facetime. It is all things to all people, including, Jobs points out, the number one portable games console in the world. Not bad for an mp3 player.

Next up, in a move which Jobs described as Facebook and Twitter meets iTunes, the company announced a new social networking service based around music. Named Ping, it is built into Apple's already popular iTunes programme (popular as in used by an incredible 160 million people), and is intended to be a tool for users to discover new music. Users will be able to follow their favourite artists, and other users, to keep an eye on what everyone else is listening to and downloading - although here Jobs alluded to the idea that Ping won't be falling into Facebook's privacy quagmire - privacy is easily user-controlled, he says.

“One of the biggest things we focus on with iTunes is discovery. There are more than 12 million songs to choose from, so how do you find new stuff?,” Jobs asked (rhetorically). “So we’re launching Ping – it’s a social network that’s all about music. It’s like Facebook and Twitter meets iTunes. You can follow your favourite artists and friends and discover what music they like and are downloading.”

Lastly - and perhaps most significantly - the focus moved on to the return of Apple TV. Previously dismissed by Jobs as 'a hobby', it seems that public demand and Apple's new focus on music and media has led to this one being resurrected. The set-top box - now miniaturised to fit in with the rest of Apple's range of gloriously streamlined gadgets - can stream music, films and  TV straight from the internet onto your set. Cool, or what? Again, Jobs was keen to point out how Apple are doing different, saying "people don’t want a computer on their television – though this is a hard one for people in the computer industry to understand. And they don’t want to manage the storage of downloaded movies and programmes.” The device will also allow users to rent films and TV shows at a small cost, and will cost a pretty affordable $99 in the US (no  UK pricing yet released).