iPhone intended to ‘leapfrog’

SAN FRANCISCO – Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs on Tuesday made the company’s long-awaited jump into the mobile phone business and renamed the company to just “Apple Inc.,” reflecting its increasing focus on consumer electronics.

The iPhone, which starts at $499, is controlled by touch, plays music, surfs the Internet and runs the Macintosh computer operating system. Jobs said it will “reinvent” the telecommunications sector and “leapfrog” past the current generation of hard-to-use smart phones.

“Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything,” he said during his keynote address at the annual Macworld Conference and Expo. “It’s very fortunate if you can work on just one of these in your career. … Apple’s been very fortunate in that it’s introduced a few of these.”

He said the name change is meant to reflect the fact that Apple has matured from a computer manufacturer to a full-fledged consumer electronics company.

“I didn’t sleep a wink last night,” he said. “I was so excited.”

During his speech, Jobs also unveiled a TV set-top box that allows people to send video from their computers and announced that the number of songs sold on its iTunes Music Store has topped 2 billion.

Apple shares jumped more than 6 percent on the announcements, while the stock of rival smart-phone makers plunged.

IPhone uses a patented touch-screen technology Apple is calling “multitouch.”

“We’re going to use a pointing device that we’re all born with,” Jobs said. “It works like magic. … It’s far more accurate than any touch display ever shipped. It ignores unintended touches. It’s supersmart.”

The phone automatically synchs your media – movies, music, photos – through Apple’s iTunes Music Store. The device also synchs e-mail content, Web bookmarks and nearly any type of digital content stored on your computer.

“It’s just like an iPod,” Jobs said. “Charge and synch.”

The phones, which will operate exclusively on AT&T Inc.’s Cingular wireless network, will start shipping in June. A 4-gigabyte model will cost $499, while an 8-gigabyte iPhone will be $599, Jobs said.

Also Tuesday, Jobs said Apple will begin taking orders immediately for the $299 video box called Apple TV. It will ship next month.

The gadget is designed to bridge computers and television sets so users more easily can watch their downloaded movies on a big screen. A prototype of the gadget was displayed by Jobs in September when Apple announced it would sell TV shows and movies through its iTunes online store.

The product could be as revolutionary to digital movies as Apple’s iPod music player was to digital music. Both devices liberate media from the computer, allowing people to enjoy digital files without being chained to a desktop or laptop.

“It’s really, really easy to use,” Jobs told the crowd at San Francisco’s Moscone Center before demonstrating the system with a video clip of “The Good Shepherd.” “It’s got the processing horsepower to do the kinds of things we like to do.”

Apple TV will come with a 40-gigabyte hard drive that stores up to 50 hours of video. It features an Intel Corp. microprocessor and can handle videos, photos and music streamed from up to five computers within the wireless range.

Jobs also said Apple has sold more than 2 billion songs on its popular iTunes music download service, catapulting the company into the top ranks of music sellers worldwide.