The six new categories are iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod, iTunes (with software and services), and Accessories. All of them are billion-dollar businesses in their own right, but of course they’re not all the same size. iPhone revenues were $30 billion, 15 times the accessories business and dwarfing every other business category.

The new iTunes category, which came in at $3.687 billion for the first quarter of 2013, includes all the revenue from music sales, app sales, software sales via the Mac app store, and any other media sales (such as books and movies. Apple has also stuffed a few random items into iTunes that might otherwise fit in a “miscellaneous” category: AppleCare extended warranty revenue, licensing revenue, and services revenue.

But essentially, if Apple has a good iPhone and iPad quarter, Apple has a good quarter. Seventy-six percent of Apple’s revenue, which totals $41.42 billion, comes from those two segments alone.

Two numbers are particularly interesting.

One is digital media in the iTunes segment. Revenue from digital media is now almost worth more to Apple — top-line revenue — than all its iMac, MacBook and other Mac hardware sales. This will likely only grow. The second is Accessories, which also is almost worth more to Apple than iPod sales. Both are signs of the future.

Here’s the raw data:

• iPhone: $30.6 billion
• iPad: $10.7 billion
• Mac: $5.5 billion
• iTunes: $3.7 billion
• iPod: $2.1 billion
• Accessories: $1.8 billion

photo credit: Hans and Carolyn via photopin cc

This sponsored post is produced by StackSocial.

The Mac is renowned for its graphic design and video editing abilities, and it’s no secret it has plenty to offer those who love their music. With The Ultimate Music Bundle, you’ll get 8 top music applications – including the popular TuneUp – for a price that definitely will strike the right chord. The full retail value of these apps combined is $355, but for a limited time the VB Store offer has it for just $39!

The Ultimate Music Bundle includes the following apps (Note: An app’s regular price is listed in parentheses):

• MegaSeg DJ ($99.00) - An easy to use, advanced DJ music mixer. Mix and match all of the music right from your library to create an awesome DJ experience.
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• Flip4Mac Studio ($49.00) - Watch, edit, and convert Windows Media on your Mac. Flip4Mac Studio includes Flip Player, the new multiformat media player.
• The T-Pain Engine ($30.00) - Produce your own beats and music and share them with your family and friends. Choose from dozens of killer beats or customize your own.
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You can find out more about all of these apps over at our VB Store page, including testimonials, video demonstrations, and the additional features each of the apps possesses. And once you’ve checked out all this deal has to offer – pick up The Ultimate Music Bundle for the low price of $39 before this deal goes silent.

But to others, it’s just a PR stunt with limited real value.

One of them is SumOfUs, a corporate watchdog group that describes itself as “fighting for people over profits.”

“Apple has a track record of announcing changes in its supply chain as PR stunts,” the organization’s founder and executive director Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman said. “Apple has spent $650 million just on advertising for the iPhone alone since it launched. They’re talking about spending less than 20% of that on this shift. They’re talking about moving 1/10th of 1 percent of their global production costs.”

There’s no question that $100 million worth of manufacturing investment locally is a drop in the bucket. And there’s also no question but that Apple is starting with some of the least profitable segments of its product line-up. iPhone, iPad, and iPod, after all, account for some 76 percent of Apple’s total sales.

But Cook’s statement mentioned that iPhone and iPad processors are manufactured in the U.S. as well. That the glass is made in Kentucky, and that all research and design is done in California.

Still, Stinebrickner-Kauffman isn’t mollified.

“They’re making a small token offering to appease consumers here in the US. Is it a coincidence that Tim Cook is announcing this move just before the holiday shopping season? I think this is a really savvy PR stunt by a corporation that has no actual intentions of cleaning up its supply chain. And I hope consumers aren’t taken in by it, but instead demand evidence of actual change from Apple.”

I don’t buy it.

Manufacturing has moved to Asia for a lot of reasons, many having to do with people like you and me wanting manufactured goods for cheaper and cheaper prices. Taking it back will not and cannot happen immediately, or even quickly. As more automation enters the manufacturing process and wages are less of a factor, more manufacturing can return.

This is at least a start … and one that Apple had no need to do at all.

And, in the spirit of pots, kettles, and people living in glass houses … it wouldn’t be a PR stunt to publicly attack the most valuable corporation in the world for doing something good, would it?

photo credit: Tc Morgan via photopin cc

Apple’s super-skinny new iMacs will finally see the light of day starting this Friday.

Announced alongside the iPad mini last month, the latest Apple desktops not only come with impressive displays, but at 5mm, they’re also impossibly thin.

Despite those dimensions, however, Apple managed to furnish the devices with some pretty impressive hardware. The 21.5-inch model ($1,299), for example, comes equipped with a quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and Apple’s hybrid Fusion Drive, which combines flash storage with a standard hard drive.

The 27-inch model, which goes in sale in December, starts at $1,799 and comes with a 2.9 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor. Not bad for devices that are thinner than the iPhone 5.

Impressive specs aside, the release of the latest iMacs comes during a time when Mac desktops represent a paltry three percent of Apple’s overall sales. Unsurprisingly, most of that cash now comes from sales of the iPhone and iPad, which dominate Apple’s balance sheet.

Still, seeing how impressive the new desktops are, it’s not hard to imagine quite a few customers picking them up over the next few weeks.

Today we had one of the biggest Apple events I can remember. Between hardware and software, Apple announced at least six new products today, seven if you include Apple Fusion Drive, and a whopping 23 new products if you include different models and build configurations.

Here’s the full list:

• New iBooks software
• New retina 13″ Macbook Pro (two build configurations)
• Mac Mini (three build configurations)
• iMac (at least two sizes, each probably with at least two build configurations)
• Apple Fusion Drive (not a standalone product, but very cool, and an orderable option)
• 4th-generation iPad (six main models)
• iPad mini (six models)

Tim Cook spoke to the huge number of new products — and his team’s effort — at the end of the event.

“We told you we’d deliver amazing innovation this year,” Cook said, “and I hope you’ll agree we did.”

Added to the list announced today, Cook mentioned iOS 6 with hundreds of new features, OS X Mountain Lion, which works with iOS like hand and glove — which is one of iOS’s great advantages over Android — the new iPods recently announced, the new iPhone 5, and the previously announced retina-screen MacBook 15″.

“It’s been an incredible year … a truly prolific year of innovation for Apple,” he said. “We hope you love these products as much as we’ve loved creating them.”

It is a staggering list.

When you look at Apple as a product company, it doesn’t have a huge number of SKUs … four main product families (Mac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad), perhaps 15 total products within those, and then some 50 or so versions of those products.

Any way you slice it, Apple has refreshed a massive proportion of its product line today. In addition, Apple has done something that it rarely does: Osborn a product. The announced new iMac product line won’t be available until November — the 21.5″ model — and December, for the 27″ version.

It’s impressive chutzpah, based on the capabilities of possibly the most sophisticated supply chain in the business. And it’s an impressive line-up for the holiday shopping season.

At the end, Cook thanked the teams at Apple, “the most talented and innovative people I know.” They’ve done their job. Now it’s time to see how the other titans of the industry — Microsoft and Google — will answer.

We won’t have to wait for long.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Here’s a photo gallery of Apple’s special event at the California Theater in San Jose, Calif. For starters, Apple chief executive Tim Cook shoots a light beam from his fingers.

Among Apple’s many announcements today was the Fusion Drive, a hybrid hard drive that combines solid state storage with a traditional hard drive technology.

The Fusion Drive will be available in the latest iMac and Mac mini, where it will come with a 128GB SD  and the option of either a 1TB or 3TB HDD.

While these sort of fusion drives are nothing new, the technology has mostly been a niche product. Apple, it seems, is looking to change that.

This combination of software and hardware, Apple Product VP Phil Schiller said, allows Fusion Drive to figure out which apps people use the most and move those to the solid state portion of the drive. That, in turn, should improve load speeds and performance.

“It’s the speed of Flash and the size of a hard drive,” Schiller said.

Photo: Dean Takahashi/VentureBeat

While only a technology journalist might be foolish enough to think that everything rumored for an Apple event is actually going to happen, there’s a lot of smoke about Tuesday.

Here are all the rumors we’re hearing about what Tim Cook might show us on Tuesday:

iPad Mini

The big kahuna, of course, is iPad Mini — potentially 16 different versions priced from $250 to $650. From 8GB to 64GB, black and white, WiFi and/or cellular.

Likelihood: extremely high. There have just been too many rumors, pictures, and whispers. And with the Microsoft Surface coming out very soon, Apple needs to give consumers a big reason to say no, even if it comes in a little package.

Refreshed full-size iPad with Lightning connector

This is a more recent rumor, but it’s both widespread and includes credible photos. There aren’t a lot of details about what it might or might not include, but the new Lightning connector is a gimme. Pricing will probably stay the same, but it’s possible that LTE could provider some faster cellular networking, and it’s possible that the retina screen will get a small update.

This would also be an opportunity for Apple to push the spec versus Microsoft’s new Surface tablets. Could we see any other upgrades?

Likelihood: high. Not due to the number or frequency of rumors, but it just seems to make sense.

Retina 13″ Macbook Pro

Half of Apple’s Macbook Pro line got the amazing new retina screen in June of this year. Now it may be time for the other half. The 13″ laptops look to be getting the same retina screen as the 15″ Pros, possibly for a $1,700 price tag. If so, Apple may also feature-bump the 13″ just a little bit.

Which would, of course, leave the Apple faithful eagerly panting for a 13″ retina Macbook Air.

Likelihood: medium. Reasonable, but definitely not guaranteed. Macbook sales have been extremely strong for Apple in the last quarter; this would juice them even more.

iBooks 3 (and other assorted software bumps)

You’re almost guaranteed to get some software updates at an Apple event, and it looks like iBooks 3 might be one of the announcements this coming week.

Likelihood: medium. It’s likely that Apple’s new iPad Mini will have a strong media, particularly reading-focused marketing message to compete with Kindles and other mid-sized tablets and e-readers. As such, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to expect some new software for said literary material …

Refreshed iMac, Mac Mini

There have been some reports of a refreshed iMac with an almost-invisibly-thin side profile, a new type of display (though probably not retina), and larger memory options. Similarly, rumors have surfaced about the Mac Mini.

Likelihood: medium. The iMac’s last update was 538 days ago, which is almost double the average time between refreshes, so a change is coming soon. And the Mac Mini was last updated 460 days ago. Whether either will be announced this week … we’ll see.

And … one more thing

Steve Jobs’ trademark — although he did not always use it — was the “one more thing” that was sometimes amazing enough to warrant an event of its own. The only items seemingly in that class would be announcements on a new Apple TV even a new Apple TV screen.

Likelihood: low. This seems to be an update event, not a shake-the-world event. And all reports on Apple’s efforts in television have it nowhere near where it needs to be yet. Wouldn’t it be fun though?

VentureBeat will be on scene live-reporting on October 23.

Spoiler alert! Apple is going to announce things on Monday morning at a keynote address kicking off the annual Apple World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC). Since speculation and rumors are half the fun (and annoyance) of reporting on Apple, we’ve collected some of our predictions for the big event.

We will be reporting live from Apple’s keynote address bright and early on Monday morning. The event begins at 10AM Pacific at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco, Calif. Follow our Tweets, and, on our website, our liveblog and WWDC news.

Let’s put on our detective hats and start with the clues. Above is a photo of the inside of Moscone center on Friday. There are three giant banners. What could it all mean?

iOS 6: Facebook, new maps, and Siri for the iPad

Apple’s first banner confirms the company will unveil its newest mobile operation system, iOS 6, but what will be inside? It looks like the latest version of the OS will add Facebook integration to go with its existing Twitter functions. Facebook integration could make an appearance in the Photos app and Apple’s App Store.

Apple is likely dumping Google Maps for its own mapping tools, one-upping the search giant by adding a 3D option. (In October, Apple acquired 3D-imaging company C3 technologies.) Turn-by-turn directions might be in the pipeline as well.

A new tracking tool to replace the UDID system was reported by the Wall Street Journal on Friday. The new system would continue to collect useful data for developers, but with improved privacy controls, such as opt-in tracking and stricter rules for developers to protect users.

Finally, there’s much speculation that mobile voice-assistant Siri will finally make an appearance on the latest iPad. There are also whispers that Apple will introduce a Siri API at the event, which would allow devs to integrate Siri functionality into their apps.

Mountain Lion: A launch date and new iOS-esque features

The Mountain Lion Mac operating system was first announced in February with a vague “Summer” release time. The Mountain Lion Developer Preview has been out in the wild and seen a few updates since then, which means most of the new features are already public. Apple will probably announce an official release date for the OS and a few new goodies. Any new features will match up with Apple’s quest to bring the best of iOS (especially iPad features) to the Mac, such as improved notifications.

iCloud: Social integration and pretty pictures

An update to the iCloud service is pretty certain. A new iCloud feature could improve photo sharing and add social features to the mix, allowing friends to comment on and download your images. Reminders and Notes will likely be drawn into iCloud as web apps. Finally, videos could be synced between devices using iCloud and collected into a stream, like photos currently are.

Fresh Macs and MacBooks: Ivy Bridge, Retina displays

Breaking from tradition, it looks like Apple will announce a Mac hardware upgrade at WWDC, featuring Intel’s new Ivy Bridge processors. The most popular possibilities are beefed-up, slimmed-down laptops across the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air lines, some with Retina displays. The desktop line could also get some fresh blood, with a speed-bumped iMac and Mac Pro.

Apple TV: Maybe an SDK, but no HD TV

This juicy and highly speculative rumor has been getting a lot of attention: Apple will unveil a software developers’ kit for Apple TV. Our own Dean Takahashi would love to see the Apple TV opened up for cloud gaming. The long longed-for iTV, an HD TV made by Apple, is highly unlikely at this point.

The event itself

There will be orange juice, coffee, and pastries for attendees. Cool new apps from third-party developers will be demoed and an Apple TV ad will make its world debut. Tim Cook will be predictably charming, dressed in jeans and a possibly untucked black button down. Two-thirds of the way through the presentation, Cook will morph into a giant fire-breathing dragon and swallow Jony Ive whole before stomping out of the amphitheater, breaking through the Moscone Center’s glass wall, and fleeing into the warm mid-morning sky.

Share your own predictions in the comments!

It seems like 2012 will become the year when utra-high resolution computer displays become the norm — at least on Apple’s devices.

Following up on Monday’s news about Retina displays (among other upgrades) in new MacBook Pros, 9to5Mac is reporting that Apple is also working on bringing higher-res screens to its new (and still unannounced) MacBook Airs and iMacs.

To be clear, Apple’s current laptops and desktops already feature impressive screen resolutions for their respective sizes — especially when measured against Windows PC competitors. But by bumping up those specs further, Apple’s next machines will be able to make just about anything look better. It won’t be as dramatic as the difference between the iPad 2 and new iPad’s screens, but it will allow Apple to keep pushing the boundaries in screen technology.

Sources tell 9to5Mac that Apple’s next MacBook Airs won’t see a major redesign, but they’ll receive hardware upgrades to run Retina displays smoothly. The new computers will likely run Intel’s new Ivy Bridge processors — which are more power efficient than last year’s Core i5 –  and feature improved graphics capabilities. Additionally, the Air’s battery will also be improved to support the higher resolution screen.

While I don’t doubt that Apple has its heart set on bringing Retina displays to all of its machines, the company will likely have a hard time finding suppliers for screens larger than 15 inches. For that reason, I suspect we’ll see Retina displays in the new iMacs long after they hit Apple’s laptops.

Intel will likely debut its much-anticipated Ivy Bridge processors — which offer energy efficiency while still being powerful — on April 23, according to a Digitimes report.

The report contradicts news we heard in February that Intel would push back the debut of Ivy Bridge until June. It’s possible that Intel has changed its timeline to make way for a staggered rollout that will start this month and go wide in June.

PC manufacturers including Asus, Acer, Lenovo, Dell, Sony, Toshiba and HP will likely incorporate Ivy Bridge processors into their second-generation ultrabook laptops starting in May. And there’s word that Apple will be soon release a new version of the MacBook Pro, which could use Ivy Bridge chips as well. Apple’s iMac computers will almost certainly get Ivy Bridge eventually.

On top of energy-efficiency, Ivy Bridge prioritizes strong graphics and multimedia processing. It’s also the first Intel chip to support USB 3.0 and incorporate 3D transistors.

Processor image: iDesign/Shutterstock

It’s time to finally treat yourself to that MacBook Air.

Apple is gearing up for Black Friday in a big way this year, with planned discounts for MacBook laptops, iMacs, iPads, iPods, and plenty more, reports 9to5 Mac.

According to leaked Apple flyers, the company will offer a $101 discount on Mac computers (bringing the Air down to a tempting $898 entry price), $41 to $61 discounts on iPads (depending on size), and smaller discounts for the iPod Touch and iPod Nano. If you’ve already got the Apple gizmo of your dreams, there will also be discounts on first- and third-party accessories, including $11 off the iPad 2 Smart Cover.

The discounts should be available at Apple retail stores and the company’s online store. Apple has been teasing its online Black Friday sale for the past few days.

While Apple is joining pretty much every other retailer in America with its Black Friday sale, it’s a particularly rare occurrence for the company to offer any discount. You may be able to land some Apple products cheaper as new models are announced, but typically consumers have to rely on third-party retailers to get their Apple fix on the cheap.

The $999 desktop will only be available in bulk purchasing from Apple from its Higher Educational online store, so average consumers are out of luck.

The machine features the basic elements of an iMac but will keep the specs dialed down for more affordable pricing. The education iMac sports a 21.5-inch display, a last-generation 3.1 GHz dual-core Intel Core i3 processor, a 250GB hard drive, and 2GB of DDR3 RAM. Additionally, there’s an AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics card with 256MB memory, FaceTime HD camera, and a Mini DisplayPort.

However, because this new budget model is only $150 less than the more powerful entry-level iMac for students, I think bulk education buyers should consider that model as well. Apple’s entry-level consumer iMac has a 2.5 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, a 6750M graphics card with 512MB of memory, and a 500GB hard drive. Buying a slightly more power machine now can help future proof it down the line.

The last education-focused iMac was a 17-inch $899 model with a 1.87-GHz Intel Core Duo processor and 512MB of RAM.

Are you interested in having iMacs at your college or high school? Do you think these machines are powerful enough to meet the increasing demands of college students who need to run powerful programs?

Apple has become the world’s most valuable tech company, with a market capitalization of approximately $344 billion (Google Finance: AAPL), and as a result, analysts and investors closely watch its earnings as a sign of health for both the computer and mobile device businesses.

In addition to its computer business, the company also dominates the tablet market with its iPad, is one of the largest makers of smartphones, and has a strong position in distributing music and videos through its iTunes Music Store.

Thomson Financial expects revenues of $24.75 billion for the quarter ended June 30, and earnings per share of $5.73.

A year ago, Apple posted revenue of $15.7 billion and net income of $3.25 billion, or $3.51 a share, for the same quarter.

Apple itself previously said its third fiscal quarter outlook was for $23 billion in revenue and $5.03 a share in earnings per share.

A year ago, Apple sold 3.47 million Macs in its third-fiscal quarter, 8.4 million iPhones, 9.41 million iPods, and 3.27 million iPads.

Professional Wall Street analysts polled by Fortune say that they expect Apple to post of iPhones ranging from 15.6 million units to 19.64 million units; iPod sales are expected to be 7.21 million units to 9.76 million units; Mac shipments are expected to be 3.8 million to 4.4 million units; and iPad shipments are expected to be 7. 5 million to 9.0 million units.

Back in April, Apple reported these second quarter results:

Revenue:$24.67 billion, up 82 percent from a year ago.

Net income: $5.99 billion, up 95 percent from a year ago.

Mac sales: 3.76 million units, up 28 percent from a year ago.

iPhone sales: 18.65 million units, up 113 percent from 8.8 million a year ago. Overall smartphone market growth is targeted at 74 percent, according to IDC. The iPhone is available from 186 carriers in 90 countries now. About 5.2 million units are in channel inventory. About 88 percent of Fortune 500 companies are deploying or testing iPhone. Corporations adopting include Cisco, Xerox, Deloitte, General Motors and more.

iPod sales: 9.02 million units, compared to 10.9 million a year ago. U.S. market share great than 70 percent, according to NPD.

iPad sales: 4.69 million (N/A year ago). iPad 2 launch March 11 in U.S. and 25 more countries by March 25. Available in 59 countries by end of March. No impact on supply chain as a result of Japan quake. Channel inventory is thin at 400,000 units. Overall 850,000 inventory. Enterprises deploying iPad include Xerox, ADP, Boston Scientific, Estee Lauder, and Disney. Adding 13 more countries next week.

Total iOS sales to date: 189 million.

Tunes sales: $1.4 billion. 1 billionth visitor coming soon.
eBooks: More than 100 million downloaded; store has 2,500 publishers.
apps: 350,000 available and more than 10 billion downloads. More than $2 billion pad to developers.

Apple stores: 71.1 million visitors, compared to 47 million a year ago. $3.19 billion in revenue, up 90 percent. 797,000 Macs sold in stores, half to customers without Mac history. Average revenue per store $9.9 million, up 67 percent. More than 300 stores open now, 40 more opening in 2011, including fifth store coming soon in China.

Cash and cash equivalents: $65.8 billion, up $6.1 billion from previous quarter.

The new machines have quad-core processors, cool graphics and high-speed Thunderbolt input-output technology. They also incorporate a new high-definition camera that uses Apple’s FaceTime web video phone capability.

With the introduction, Apple is finally taking advantage of the new Core i5 and Core i7 processors that Intel began releasing in January for PC makers.

With the usual hyperbole, Apple senior vice president of worldwide product marketing Phil Schiller says, “We’ve made the world’s best desktop even better.”

While the machines use the Intel Sandy Bridge processor, which has a microprocessor and graphics on a single chip, Apple still sees the point of adding its own dedicated graphics chip in the form of an AMD Radeon graphics. Overall, the graphics is three times faster than previous iMac versions.

The new Thunderbolt I/O technology can transfer data in two directions at 10 gigabits per second each way. It is compatible with existing FireWire and universal serial bus (USB) devices that transfer data at slower speeds. The new machines come with Apple’s new Mac app store built in and have wireless peripherals.

The prices for the new all-in-one desktop machines are as follows:

A 21.5-inch screen with a 2.5 gigahertz quad-core Intel Core i5, AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics and 500 gigabyte hard drive sells for $1,199.

A 21.5-inch screen with a 2.7 gigahertz quad-core Intel Core i5, AMD Radeon HD 6770M and 1 terabyte hard drive sells for $1,499.

A 27-inch screen with 2.7 gigahertz quad-core Intel Core i5, AMD Radeon HD 6770M and a 1 terabyte hard drive sells for $1,699.

A 27-inch screen with 3.1 gigahertz quad-core Intel Core i5, AMD Radeon HD 6970M and a 1 terabyte hard drive sells for $1,999.

Users can order faster 3.4-gigahertz Intel Core i7 processors, larger 2 terabyte hard drives, a 256 gigabyte solid state drive, additional memory and other features for more money.

According to the blog PatentlyApple, the hybrid concept envisioned could mean that at one moment, consumers are running a typical iMac, but with one adjustment, can play famed iPad game “Angry Birds” straight on their 20-inch iMac display.

The crux of this arrangement is that the new devices will allow people to quickly switch from the OS X operating system to the iOS used by the iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone. The idea is that keyboard/mouse interfaces are preferable for some applications while touch-based mode works better for others. That concept appears to be reflected in the title of the patent, “Transitioning between Modes of Input.”

A few of the first pictures of the new devices came to light in January when the world was distracted by the debut of the iPad itself.

According to the patent, the switchover from OS X to iOS on the ‘iMac Touch’ occurs when the user grabs sensors located near the bottom right and left of the display screen (no. 505 on the right). An illustration shows how the display screen collapses downward, through a system of hinges and sensors, thereby transitioning to touch display.

One of the more intriguing designs points to a Macbook-type device in which the display screen is rotated and laid flat against the keyboard. The screen faces up, ready to receive input as a touch device. It should be said that his kind of “Tablet PC” has been done by Lenovo and Gateway in the past. As a matter of fact, the 2007 Gateway M 275X can still be bought online for $93.

After months of speculation, Apple today has finally unveiled the latest updates to its iMac and Mac Pro computer line. The company also revealed its long-rumored Magic TrackPad — a USB accessory that resembles a larger version of the MacBook Pro’s trackpad and brings increased multitouch functionality to the desktop.

New to the iMac line is the addition of Intel Core i3, i5, and i7 processors, higher quality IPS display panels (for wider viewing angles and better overall quality), as well as dedicated graphics options across the board using ATI’s Radeon HD video cards. The graphics bump means that every iMac will have a separate video card on board with its own dedicated memory — something that will be particularly useful for 3D games and other graphics-heavy applications. Apple also added an SD card slot that can read the newer SDXC format.

The iMac line now ranges from a $1,119 unit with a 21.5-inch screen, 3.06Ghz Core i3 CPU, 4GB of RAM, and ATI Radeon HD 4670 video card with 256MB of its own memory — to a $1,999 model with a 27-inch screen, 2.8Ghz quad Core i5 CPU, and ATI Radeon HD 5750 video card with 1GB of memory. The 27-inch model can also be upgraded with a 2.93Ghz Core i7 CPU, 256GB solid-state drive, and a 2-terabyte hard drive. If you can afford it, you can even order a 27-inch model with both a 2 TB and solid-state hard drive.

The iMac upgrades aren’t anything surprising, but they will help to keep iMacs competitive against many other desktops sporting Intel’s newer processors.

Apple’s Mac Pro upgrades are even more prosaic. They now include Intel’s new Xeon line of server processors, which offer four cores at the low-end ($2,499) and a whopping 12-cores with the highest end model ($4,999). The latter milestone is achieved by combining two CPUs that each sport six cores. ATI’s Radeon HD 5870 with 1GB of memory is also the new default graphics option for all Mac Pros.

The Magic Trackpad is pretty much exactly what we reported a month ago — the Macbook Pro’s trackpad made larger, and designed to fit alongside Apple’s current desktop input devices. It’s now retailing for $69, and thus far it’s only compatible with Macs. Some intrepid Windows developer could make a driver for the device, but it likely won’t be as useful on Microsoft’s platform — whereas Apple has had multitouch integrated in its laptops and Mac OSX for some time now.

Although it clicks like a normal mouse, I don’t suspect that it will replace Apple’s multitouch Magic Mouse anytime soon. Initially, it will likely serve as yet another fancy accessory for the Mac faithful. But Apple could eventually do something interesting with the device. The Magic Trackpad also adds a new multitouch gesture to Mac OSX in the form of a three-finger swipe to move windows around.

In other news, Apple also announced a new 27-inch version of its Cinema Display for $999. It sports a 16:9 aspect ratio, an iSight webcam, and an array of USB ports. It’s also perfectly suited for Macbook and Macbook Pro owners since it features a single cable with Mini Displayport, USB, and MagSafe power connections.