But the new offerings received a sombre welcome on the Nasdaq market, where Apple shares slumped.

The group's new iPod, called the iPod shuffle, uses a "flash memory" - a device with no moving parts that stores memory even when the power has been switched off.

It is available in two forms, a 512 megabyte version able to hold 120 songs for 99 dollars and a one-gigabyte, 240-song version for 149 dollars.

"iPod shuffle is smaller and lighter than a pack of gum and costs less than 100 dollars," Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said in a statement released at the Macworld Expo in San Franciso.

"With most flash-memory music players users must use tiny displays and complicated controls to find their music; with iPod shuffle you just relax and it serves up new combinations of your music every time you listen."

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, said the shuffle feature randomly selects songs from the user's music music library or playlists. The music also can be played in order.

Users can also charge and transfer music from their computer by plugging it directly into a USB port.

The existing iPods, which allows users to carry a mobile song library in their pocket, hit retail stores in October 2001. Prices range from 299 dollars to 499 dollars depending on the model.

The new iPod shuffle was immediately available.

Apple also showed off a new desktop, for the first time at a relatively cheap price.

Starting at just 499 dollars, the "Mac mini" is equipped with the widely praised Mac OS X "Panther" operating system.

Just two-inches (five centimeters) tall and weighing only 2.9 poundskilograms), it is easily the cheapest Mac computer.

It comes without a display, keyboard or mouse, however.

"Just plug in your display, keyboard and mouse and you've got an incredibly compact Mac for a price that almost anyone can afford," Jobs said.

The Mac mini has one "FireWire 400" broadband Internet connection slot and two USB 2.0 ports.

The Mac mini will be available in the United States January 22 and worldwide January 29.

Investors seemed unimpressed.

Apple shares slumped 4.40 dollars, or 6.38 percent, to finish at 64.56 dollars.

Apple is scheduled to release its latest quarterly profit results on Wednesday.

For the three months ended September 25, it reported net profits had more than doubled to 106 million dollars, from 44 million dollars a year earlier, as sales soared 37 percent.

Apple shipped 2,016,000 iPods during the quarter, a 500 percent increase in iPods over the year-earlier period.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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