San Francisco ? Apple Inc. slashed the price of the iPhone by $200 Wednesday – a rare move for the company that typically discounts only older products. It also updated its iPod media players, introducing a model with a touch-screen and other iPhone features.

The 8-gigabyte iPhone will be $399 – $200 cheaper than the same model when it went on sale in June. The 4-gigabyte iPhone, which sold for $399, will be phased out. By comparison, the new touch-screen iPods will start at $299.

Analysts said the price drop would definitely boost sales, possibly allowing Apple to achieve its self-proclaimed goal of selling 1 million iPhones by the end of September.

Apple stock dropped more than 5 percent after the price drop was announced, losing $7.40 to close at $136.76.