Apple Computer unveiled its first new product line for nine months yesterday, including a cube-shaped power computer and an updated iMac range for the consumer market.
Steve Jobs, wearing his trademark baggy jeans and black polo neck jumper, said the Power Mac G4 Cube combined the power of the group's business-focused desktop with the "iMac magic" of sleek design.
He won an appreciative gasp from an audience of thousands of Mac devotees at the annual MacWorld event in New York when he demonstrated the ease of removing the inside of the eight-inch cube-shaped computer.
Wall Street analysts hope the updated iMac range will help improve sales of the colourful computers.
Although about 3.7m iMacs have been sold since they were introduced two years ago, making them among the most popular desktops, sales slowed in the quarter to the end of June.
Apple hopes that the latest range, which boasts five new colours as well as an optical mouse and keyboard, will reinvigorate demand in the run-up to the all-important Christmas selling season.
Wall Street's immediate reaction was negative. Shares in Apple were down more than $3 to $53.625 an hour after the new range had been announced as traders reacted to the slightly weaker sales released the night before.
Apple took the wraps off four new models of the iMac yesterday. The basic model in a new indigo colour scheme will be priced at $799 in the US and aimed at first-time users.
The entry-level machine is important for the group because internal analysis suggests that 30% of all iMac buyers were first-time users of the group's products.
The more expensive models boast digital video and a palette of colours to extend the "fruit sorbet" range.
Other new developments revealed with some gusto by Mr Jobs include computers with dual processors and a demonstration of a new interface for the version of Mac OS to be released next year.
A senior manager at Microsoft received the least enthusiastic welcome from an audience which included some enthusiasts wearing Monopoly-board images of the company.
However, the company displayed a new software suite designed for Macs, prompting Mr Jobs to exclaim: "The best version of Office is that used on the Mac - who would have thunk [sic] it a few years ago."
Average unit prices have been affected by a bigger than expected shift to lower-priced iMacs and iBooks in the education sector. The company has made generous allowances, too, for the discounting it sees as necessary to clear old stock before the new range arrives in the shops.
