[6:29 PM]
Dave:
Now that the event's over we're digging into a few things for you (answers coming at
www.macobserver.com):
Is iTunes still Universal, or Intel only?
What happened to the iPod Classic?
...and more!
[6:29 PM]
Dave:
Seems that's it folks. Thanks for tuning in! Now head over to
www.macobserver.com and get the details.
[6:25 PM]
Dave:
It's called "Wedding Bells" -- "this might be terrible, but... f*** it" -- and off he goes to play.
[6:25 PM]
Bryan:
OK, but he's a funny man. "Is Steve here to tell me what to do?" He also joked about Apple's product secrecy and Jonny Ive's design awesomeness.
[6:25 PM]
Dave:
"This is a new song called Coldplay 2.6. It features 7 different kinds of chord, including a new one that even our closest rivals have no idea about that Jonathan Ive designed. It's the chord of iMinor."
[6:25 PM]
Dave:
"I'm afraid I've played all the hits, now let's try the misses."
[6:24 PM]
Bryan:
Mind you, I'll be first to point out that he's way more talented and infinitely more successful than me, but ouch. :)
[6:24 PM]
Dave:
"I think that might be the finish, but I'm not sure. Is Steve around to tell me what to do?"
[6:23 PM]
Dave:
Song finished. There's an acoustic guitar on the floor of stage next to the piano.
[6:23 PM]
Bryan:
Chris is missing more notes than a drunken postman.
[6:22 PM]
Dave:
Took a minute to review our friends coverage over at Macworld. Had to laugh at similar comments from Jason Snell (on liveblogging a live musical performance) and Chris Breen (picking on all the musical bits)
[6:20 PM]
Dave:
His voice is getting better now... seems like he needed some warming up.
[6:19 PM]
Dave:
Now playing "Viva la Vida"
[6:19 PM]
Dave:
Chris says Apple's marketing people can sell anything because they took "this piece of [crap] and turned it into a hit"
[6:18 PM]
Dave:
"Yellow" is finished. He removed his outershirt, and now we're into Storytellers mode. He's wearing a "Flaming Lips" shirt.
[6:17 PM]
Dave:
You know, I like being the play-by-play guy for you all when I can do it, but doing play-by-play of a musical performance is a much tougher job than recanting what Steve Jobs is saying.
[6:16 PM]
Dave:
Comment after first chorus: "Ok so far?"
Crowd applauded, he continues (back down the octave).
[6:15 PM]
Dave:
(ok now he's up the octave...)
[6:15 PM]
Dave:
Starting with: Yellow (which sounds like it's being sung down an octave)
[6:14 PM]
Dave:
"I'll just play one song, then if you want another one I'll play another one and we'll go like that until you want lunch."
[6:14 PM]
Dave:
Chris Martin from Coldplay is now on stage. Just him at the piano, no band ("they're too lazy" according to Chris)
[6:13 PM]
Bryan:
Coldplay...Zzzzzzz...Your mileage will vary.
[6:13 PM]
Dave:
"There's no better way to do this than to ask one of our favorite musical artists to perform."
"This group has had 4 albums out so far, with 50MM album sales worldwide"
[6:12 PM]
Dave:
"There's a lot of us Apple that really love music." "Whenever we have our music events, we like to remind ourselves why we do this."
[6:11 PM]
Dave:
Continuing review: new iOS - 4.1 next week, 4.2 November. And finally, a new Apple TV.
[6:11 PM]
Dave:
New iTunes 10 with Ping (also on iPhone, iPod touch)
[6:09 PM]
Dave:
Steve now reviewing. First, iPods: new shuffle, new (multitouch) nano, new iPod touch.
[6:09 PM]
Dave:
New Apple TV ships in "about 4 weeks" and you can pre-order today.
[6:09 PM]
Bryan:
And the $99 price point rumors were right! This thing is going to be hot!
[6:08 PM]
Dave:
New price for Apple TV (it was $229, remember). Now: $99 (wow!)
[6:08 PM]
Bryan:
Unless I missed it, Steve hasn't said Apple TV is an iOS device, but I noticed that he's demoing it from an iPad.
[6:07 PM]
Dave:
iPad acts as a streaming remote in this implementation.
[6:07 PM]
Dave:
We can stream from iPad to AppleTV using AirPlay. Save yourself $29 on the iPad-to-TV connector window.
[6:07 PM]
Bryan:
I am delighted to see the Netflix support in Apple TV. It's a nice change to see the company supporting a popular 3rd party product.
[6:06 PM]
Dave:
Getting back to AirPlay
[6:05 PM]
Dave:
Netflix implementation is way better than what I have on my TiVo, it seems.
[6:05 PM]
Bryan:
Apple TV is about to get an upgrade from "Hobby" to "Business," at least from analysts.
[6:04 PM]
Dave:
That looked like a 48-hour rental for TV shows on the screen that went by. Thank GOODNESS they negotiated that. Now how about for movies?
[6:03 PM]
Dave:
Showing an HD rental of Iron Man. Was able to skip to a future chapter immediately.
[6:01 PM]
Dave:
Now demoing Apple TV
[6:00 PM]
Dave:
Audio and video podcasts all available on AppleTV, too. Netflix interface looks great.
[5:59 PM]
Bryan:
You can't buy from iTunes on Apple TV, but can one still buy TV shows and movies from the desktop iTunes app?
[5:59 PM]
Dave:
Rotten Tomato's tomoatometer and related reviews listed inside Movie listings pages.
[5:59 PM]
Bryan:
Steve is drawing a line (of profits) in the sand for the head-in-the-sand networks.
[5:58 PM]
Dave:
YouTube, Flickr, MobileMe supported, as well. And, of course, you can stream content from your computer.
[5:58 PM]
Dave:
Yes! Netflix streaming to Apple TV now natively supported.
[5:58 PM]
Dave:
ABC and Fox on board - "Not all the studios wanted to take this step with us."
[5:57 PM]
Dave:
HD TV shows: $0.99 (as opposed to previous purchase price of $2.99)
[5:57 PM]
Dave:
All available the day and date they come out on DVD (note this is likely 1 month sooner than Netflix gets them now)
[5:56 PM]
Dave:
$4.99 First run HD movies (all prices are rental prices, no purchases)
[5:56 PM]
Dave:
All streaming - no syncing (I wonder if it has some small amount of flash memory inside to buffer/cache)
[5:56 PM]
Dave:
No storage management.
[5:56 PM]
Dave:
Apple TV is *all rental* -- there's NO PURCHASES WITH APPLETV ANY MORE.
[5:55 PM]
Dave:
Comes with an aluminum remote. All HD (when available).
[5:55 PM]
Dave:
Small enough to fit into hand. Power supply built-in. HDMI connector, ethernet, and Digital Audio, built-in 802.11n WiFi, too.
[5:55 PM]
Bryan:
This is going to be a game changing device for both Apple and the broader industry.
[5:54 PM]
Bryan:
"Silent, cool & small." Heck yeah! Holy smokes, it is SMALL!
[5:54 PM]
Dave:
Second generation Apple TV is 1/4 the size of original Apple TV.
[5:54 PM]
Dave:
Want hardware to be silent, cool, small. Steve's hitting all the right talking points.
[5:53 PM]
Bryan:
Steve's bullet points for settop boxes rings true with me.
[5:53 PM]
Dave:
Users don't want to manage their storage, either. They just want to watch. They also don't want to have to sync. (here comes the cloud?)
[5:53 PM]
Dave:
Steve says people don't want a computer on their TV. (I agree 100% here, by the way)
[5:52 PM]
Dave:
"HD revolution is over and HD won." ;)
[5:52 PM]
Dave:
Apple talked to users. The top thing everyone wants: Hollywood movies & TV shows in the living room... and in HD.
[5:52 PM]
Bryan:
Steve is clearly excited as he starts talking about Apple TV.
[5:52 PM]
Dave:
Walking through the history of Apple TV. Steve says that neither Apple TV nor any competitive product has "hit" yet.
[5:51 PM]
Dave:
We have one more thing (er, one more "hobby"). I smell Apple TV. ;)
[5:51 PM]
Bryan:
No standalone app, but it looks like it has a special iOS interface. I look forward to checking it out.
[5:50 PM]
Dave:
iTunes 10 is available TODAY.
[5:50 PM]
Dave:
Ping is available on iPhone and iPod touch (inside iTunes store App) as well as inside iTunes 10
[5:50 PM]
Dave:
(not sure why I need that separated from my OTHER social networks, but hey)
[5:49 PM]
Bryan:
Ping looks pretty darned cool. I hope we get a standalone app for iPad and iPhone.
[5:49 PM]
Dave:
"Ping is a social network all about music."
[5:48 PM]
Dave:
Location-based Concert listings. You can tag the ones which you plan to attend.
[5:48 PM]
Dave:
Visiting Katie Cotton's profile. Cheers from the crowd (no doubt to keep the lovely Katie in everyone's good graces ;)
[5:46 PM]
Dave:
Steve visiting Jack Johnson on Ping. Hey, anyone wanna bet Jack's not too far away?
[5:45 PM]
Dave:
iTunes 10 Demo coming now
[5:45 PM]
Dave:
Over 17,000 concert listings. Ping is open to over 160 million iTunes user in 23 countries immediately.
[5:45 PM]
Bryan:
"You can get as public or as private as you want." Dear Facebook, take notes, please.
[5:45 PM]
Dave:
"Circle of friends" concept with closed-group followers. You can get as private or public as you want. "The privacy is super-simple"
[5:44 PM]
Dave:
You can follow people and be followed. Most artists will allow anyone to follow them. You have same option, OR you can approve followers.
[5:44 PM]
Bryan:
Ping doesn't threaten Facebook, but that distant sound you hear is Taps being played for MySpace.
[5:43 PM]
Dave:
Showing how to follow artists (like Lady Gaga) and friends (some random guy)
[5:42 PM]
Bryan:
Oh my...Apple is ambitious. Super ambitious. Audaciously ambitious. Launching a new social network concept today is ballsy.
[5:42 PM]
Dave:
<sarcasm> ...and I'm sure Ping will have an open API just like all the other social networks, yup. </sarcasm>
[5:42 PM]
Dave:
New iTunes 10 feature: Ping. A social network for music "like Facebook and Twitter meet iTunes" (but it's not Facebook and Twitter)
[5:41 PM]
Dave:
iTunes has focus on discovery: what are my friends listening to? what are my favorite artists up to? what concernts are my friends going to?
[5:40 PM]
Dave:
New hybrid view -- if you have more than 5 songs of the same album in list view it shows you album art instead of the album name repeating.
[5:40 PM]
Bryan:
The new iTunes icon looks great!
[5:40 PM]
Dave:
Next spring iTunes is likely to surpass CDs in terms of new music sales, so Apple decided to ditch the CD in the logo. New iTunes 10 logo.
[5:39 PM]
Bryan:
Apple has clearly failed with iTunes, having only 2.4% of the world's population signed up with accounts...
[5:39 PM]
Dave:
iTunes 10 announced.
[5:38 PM]
Dave:
11.7 billion songs downloaded from iTunes. 450 million TV episodes downloaded. 100 million movies downloaded. 35 million books.
[5:38 PM]
Dave:
"iPods are part of a great duet with iTunes"
[5:38 PM]
Bryan:
Whither iPod classic? Alas, we knew thee well...
[5:37 PM]
Bryan:
Apple is going to have a remarkable December quarter,I should think. Indeed, Oppenheimer's guidance for the September quarter makes more sense.
[5:37 PM]
Dave:
Now showing some new ads. The nano with the clip looks fantastic.
[5:36 PM]
Dave:
"Amazing new line-up of iPods" -- still no mention of Classic.
[5:36 PM]
Dave:
All available next week, available for pre-order today.
[5:35 PM]
Dave:
New iPod touch: 8GB - $229, 32GB - $299, 64GB - $399
[5:35 PM]
Dave:
Just for clarification: FaceTime *will* be compatible between iPhone and iPod touch.
[5:34 PM]
Dave:
Yes, that's right: a front-facing camera. Added a rear camera, too with HD video recording (seems to not have a flash)
[5:34 PM]
Bryan:
It's just amazing how thin Apple has been able to make the iPod touch, especially considering the new features. The competition is screwed.
[5:34 PM]
Dave:
Apple A4 chip (same as iphone), 3-axis Gyro, iOS 4.1 (with Game Center) and front-facing camera with FaceTime
[5:33 PM]
Dave:
Yep, it has the retina display. 326 pixels per inch. 24-bit color, LED backlit. "Best display in the world" - same as iPhone 4.
[5:33 PM]
Dave:
New iPod touch - *even* thinner. From the looks of the screenshots it looks like it might have a retina display
[5:32 PM]
Dave:
1.5 billion game and entertainment downloads to the iPod touch alone.
[5:32 PM]
Dave:
iPod touch outsells Nintendo and Sony portable game players combined. Best selling portable game player in the world. 50+% market share.
[5:32 PM]
Dave:
iPod touch is an iPhone without a phone... "it's also an iPhone without a contract"
[5:31 PM]
Dave:
"New shuffle, new nano, that leaves... the iPod touch" What about the Classic?
[5:31 PM]
Bryan:
The Product(Red) version will popular, I think, It looks good, and it supports a great charity.
[5:31 PM]
Dave:
All the same colors as the new shuffle, plus Project (RED). 8GB is $149, 16GB is $179 "for the lineup this holiday season"
[5:30 PM]
Dave:
You can use the two-finger twist motion to rotate photos on the screen. He stumbled a bit, then jumped to summary
[5:30 PM]
Bryan:
Steve looks great, BTW. He's gained weight, and he's been smiling a lot.
[5:30 PM]
Dave:
Whoa... pause from Steve while looking at his notes. He's either unrehearsed or skipping something.
[5:29 PM]
Dave:
iPod nano has "jiggle mode" and you can rearrange and put your favorites on the home page, etc.
[5:28 PM]
Bryan:
Bryan's Prediction: Watchband straps for the new iPod nano will be a hot item this next year.
[5:28 PM]
Dave:
Enjoying "Let's Do It" from Ella Fitzgerald as the soundtrack to this new nano demo.
[5:28 PM]
Dave:
It's got a clock app and "one of the board of directors is going to clip it onto an armband as a [wrist]watch"
[5:27 PM]
Bryan:
The new nano is simply incredible looking. It's very SciFi looking, to me, and in a cool way. :)
[5:27 PM]
Dave:
24 hour audio playback battery life. SHowing some screens -- looks like a 4-icon-at-a-time iPhone interface, no persistent dock
[5:26 PM]
Bryan:
When showing prior models of the iPod nano, Steve talked about every generation except the third, which he just sort of skipped over. Funny.
[5:26 PM]
Dave:
It's square, looks like a slightly larger version of the shuffle, no buttons, all screen, WITH a clip.
[5:25 PM]
Dave:
We'd like to make it smaller [...] and better. No more click wheel, all screen, all touch-based, uses multitouch.
[5:24 PM]
Dave:
Same formula -- walking through the 5 generations of iPod Nano
[5:24 PM]
Bryan:
$49? Wow. I don't think the competition will be able to touch that.
[5:24 PM]
Dave:
"We're just gettin' started - Now let's look at the iPod... nano"
[5:24 PM]
Dave:
New Shuffle, 15 hours of music: $49, comes in 5 different colors, blue, pink, green, gold, silver.
[5:24 PM]
Bryan:
The new shuffle looks great! I really liked the form factor of the 2nd Gen model over the other two models, and the new one is even better.
[5:23 PM]
Dave:
New iPod shuffle - Buttons + VoiceOver+ Playlists -- looks like 2nd gen shuffle, but is apparently even smaller. Has a clip.
[5:22 PM]
Dave:
Walking us through the history of the first 3 models of Shuffle. "People clearly miss the buttons"
[5:22 PM]
Dave:
First up: iPod shuffle
[5:21 PM]
Dave:
All new designs for every single iPod model
[5:21 PM]
Dave:
"Just because iPod has a very high market share, we've never rested on our laurels" ... "This year we've gone wild"
[5:21 PM]
Dave:
275,000,000 (yes 275 million) iPods sold
[5:21 PM]
Bryan:
Interesting...This may be the longest (planned) lead time on a release we've seen from Apple at a media event.
[5:21 PM]
Dave:
Now it's time to get onto iPods. "This is the event where we talk about cool music product."
[5:20 PM]
Dave:
iOS 4.2 coming out... in November. For iPad, iPhone, iPod touch.
[5:19 PM]
Dave:
Showing folders. During the process of creating one, Jobs referred to it as "jiggle mode"
[5:19 PM]
Dave:
Did a search from Mail and it "multitasked over to Safari" -- stopped music with iOS4 double-tap music countrols.
[5:18 PM]
Dave:
Playing some Jack Johnson music via Pandora to demo background multitasking. Multithreaded mail.
[5:18 PM]
Dave:
Demo of iPad running iOS 4.2
[5:18 PM]
Dave:
AirPlay is AirTunes (renamed) but now allowing video and photos in addition to music streaming.
[5:18 PM]
Bryan:
Glad to see printing finally come to iOS! It's silly it took so long, but better late than never.
[5:17 PM]
Dave:
Demoing printing on iPad. Just appears in "Tools" menu inside apps. new "Print Center" app for seeing active jobs, managing them, canceling.
[5:16 PM]
Dave:
Adding "AirPlay" to iOS 4.2 -- details "later today"
[5:16 PM]
Dave:
iOS 4.2 brings *everything* to iPad (HDR photos, multitasking, wireless printing, more)
[5:16 PM]
Bryan:
Steve always looks like he's faking it when talking about Games. Apple clearly gets the importance of gaming for iOS, but I don't think Steve is personally interested.
[5:16 PM]
Dave:
"A little surprise for you today: A sneak peek at iOS 4.2"
[5:16 PM]
Dave:
iOS 4.1 available (for free via normal iTunes channel) next week for iPhone and iPod touch (no mention of iPad).
[5:15 PM]
Bryan:
That game looked amazing.
[5:15 PM]
Dave:
Live multiplayer battle scene where one huge character got stabbed (and killed) with a sword. Looks pretty cool.
[5:14 PM]
Dave:
Showing a great battle scene. Fantastic.
[5:13 PM]
Dave:
The 3D world shown by this game -- on the iPhone -- looks fantastic. Like watching an HD movie.
[5:13 PM]
Dave:
Today Epic is introducing a new game codenamed "Project Sword." Role playing game with epic sword battles.
[5:12 PM]
Dave:
New game coming out later this year from Epic games. Mike Capps, President of Epic Games, on stage to show new game.
[5:11 PM]
Dave:
Now talking GameCenter for multi-player online gaming. "If you don't have any friends, it'll automatch you with some"
[5:10 PM]
Dave:
HDR Comment: sometimes looks great, sometimes looks WAY overdone.
[5:10 PM]
Dave:
HDR end result: a photo with much richer colors, sometimes pulling out of shadows.
[5:09 PM]
Dave:
With HDR 3 photos are taken, one normal, one underexposed, one overexposed, then combined. More detail on recent @MacGeekGab discussion.
[5:09 PM]
Dave:
HDR Photos being explained. Normally photos are often blown out by too much light.
[5:09 PM]
Dave:
HD video upload over WiFi, too.
[5:08 PM]
Dave:
HDR photos INCLUDED in iOS 4.1. @johnfbraun will love this.
[5:08 PM]
Dave:
Bugs fixed: proximity sensor, bluetooth, 3G Performance bugs
[5:08 PM]
Dave:
Today they're introducing iOS 4.1
[5:07 PM]
Dave:
6.5 billion apps downloaded from App Store, 250k apps on store, 200 downloaded every second. 25,000 iPad apps.
[5:07 PM]
Dave:
"We think some of our friends are including upgrades in their numbers. If we did that, our number would be WAY higher"
[5:07 PM]
Dave:
230k *new* activations in their numbers. That's NOT including upgrades.
[5:06 PM]
Dave:
120 million (total) iOS devices shipped.
[5:06 PM]
Dave:
"Now I want to talk about iOS" -- A revolution in touch & apps
[5:05 PM]
Dave:
80,000 one-to-one classes per week. 50% of buyers buying their first Mac.
[5:05 PM]
Dave:
"Remember when Macworld used to get 30,000 people coming to it? We now have [some] days where we see 1MM visitors to our stores."
[5:04 PM]
Dave:
Covent Garden (London) was Apple's 300th retail store to open. Now in 10 countries, Spain coming.
[5:04 PM]
Dave:
London store in Covent Garden. Another restoration project.
[5:04 PM]
Dave:
You can Tweet your questions to us here @MacObserverLive and we'll attempt to answer on-the-fly
[5:03 PM]
Dave:
"Really excited about our second store in China, which we opened recently in Shanghai. It is a 40-foot-high glass cylinder"
[5:02 PM]
Dave:
Starting with an update in Apple retail. Paris, near the opera house, showing the restored old bldg (18 month project)
[5:01 PM]
Dave:
Seems I wasn't the only one who noticed Woz, as Jobs just acknowledged him in the crowd.
[5:01 PM]
Dave:
...and down goes the sound, and out comes Steve
[4:57 PM]
Dave:
If you're in a place where you can watch the event live,
www.apple.com will provide you with the stream. If you can't, we've got you covered
[4:56 PM]
Dave:
Stream just showed a nice shot of a well-dressed Woz ready to watch the show.
[4:55 PM]
Dave:
Technology seems to be cooperating, they're playing Alanis Morissette, and we're waiting for the action to begin. Oops, make that Clapton (acoustic). Still waiting.
[4:04 PM]
Dave:
At 1pm EDT you can get both play-by-play and color commentary here at
http://liveblog.macobserver.com/ and @MacObserverLive (on Twitter).
[6:12 AM]
Adam:
Welcome. Just getting ready for today's live event.
Archive of our previous Live Blog Coverage:
1999 - 2019