It’s about time! Apple has finally decided to up their game by putting on an extra one gigabyte onto the iPod Shuffle. Apple’s press release today says they will soon be retailing the latest 2GB editions of the Shuffle by later this month while price cuts on the existing 1GB iPod Shuffles will take place immediately.

Check out this news hot off the press:

CUPERTINO, California—February 19, 2008—Apple® today announced that its iPod® shuffle, the world’s most wearable music player, is now even more affordably priced at $49 and that it is introducing a new 2GB model of the iPod shuffle for $69. The popular iPod shuffle is just half a cubic inch in volume, weighs just half an ounce, features an aluminum design with a built-in clip and comes in five colors—silver, blue, green, purple and a (PRODUCT) RED special edition.

“At just $49, the iPod shuffle is the most affordable iPod ever,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPod Product Marketing. “The new 2GB model lets music lovers bring even more songs everywhere they go in the impossibly small iPod shuffle.”

The iPod is the world’s most popular family of digital music players with over 140 million sold. The lineup includes iPod shuffle, the world’s most wearable iPod; iPod classic holding up to 40,000 songs*; the incredible iPod nano with video playback and the breakthrough iPod touch with a revolutionary Multi-Touch™ user interface. iPod owners can choose from a vast ecosystem of accessories with over 4,000 products made specifically for the iPod including cases, fitness accessories, speaker systems and iPod connectivity in over 75 percent of US automobiles.

Pricing & Availability
The new 1GB iPod shuffle is available immediately for a suggested retail price of $49 (US) through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. The 2GB iPod shuffle will be available later this month for a suggested retail price of $69 (US) through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. iPod shuffle requires a Mac® with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS® X 10.4.8 or later and iTunes® 7.4; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2) or later and iTunes 7.4 or later.

[via Apple Press Release]