This is for those of you using Windows to access the internet- approximately 90% of you. Will update this once the Keynote starts. The Apple store is currently down which means that new products should be online imminently.
- Steve Jobs is on stage wearing completely different clothes than normal. Just kidding. Woz is there as well. ‘Really Cool’ already used once.
- Apple now has 300 retail stores in 10 countries. A new store in Spain will make it 11. On some days over 1 million people visit the stores. 80,000 1:1 classes taught per week. More than 50% of people buying Macs are buying their first.
- 120 million iOS devices shipped to date. Activating more than 230,000 iOS devices per day. 200 apps are being downloaded every seconds. Lots of annoying applause after each statement.
- iOS 4.1 being introduced today and is available next week as a free download. Proximity, Bluetooth and iPhone 3G performance bugs fixed. HDR photos added.
- HDR Photos enhances photos which can be affected by too much light on the device itself.
- Game Center is all about multi-player games. Auto matching, challenge friends, compare scores etc. Fair to say that the interface is very un-Apple and actually quite ugly.
- A game called Project Sword is being demonstrated- WOW! It’s not out yet, but it shows the potential.
- iOS 4.2 is all about iPad. It brings all that we have on iPhone to the iPad plus wireless printing. AirPlay is also being introduced which is, you guessed it, ‘really cool’.
- AirPlay is the new name for AirTunes; you can stream audio, videos and photos to other devices over Wi-Fi. iOS 4.2 demoed on the iPad. Basically offering what we know from iOS 4.1 on the iPhone. 4.2 will be released in November for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.
- All new designs for every iPod model. The iPod Shuffle lives on. It is smaller, but the buttons return and voice functions remain. 15 hours (!) of music playback. Five colours and only $49.
- The new iPod Nano is 46% smaller. 24 hour music playback (!!), multi-touch touch screen and it looks like a tiny iPoad Touch. Actually looks usable despite the size. Built in FM Radio, has a clip and Steve is now demonstrating it. Impressed. It’s an iOS device and the screen can be rotated all the way around. 7 colours available including Project RED and is $149 for 8GB and $179 for 16GB.
- iPod Touch time! The iPod Touch is apparently the number one portable game player in the world- outsells Nintendo and Sony portable games devices combined; over 50% market share. 1.5 billion downloads to iPod Touch alone. Here we go-
- New iPod Touch is even thinner- has a retina display, powered by the Apple A4 chip, 3-axis Gyro and FaceTime. HD video recording included as well. 40 hours of music playback (!!!).
- Starting from $229 for 8GB Touch. You can pre-order today and they will be shipping next week.
- Onto iTunes. The next version is iTunes 10 and now has a new logo with no CD.
- Ping is new in iTunes 10 which is dubbed a social network for music. Apparently it is ‘really cool’. You can check what the artists are doing and also share information with friends. You get a customised Top 10 based on the people you follow. Lady GaGa mentioned a lot so far- so where is she Steve?
- Ping looks like a cross between Facebook, Twitter and everything else- can see where this is going. For a start it is a great way to get people buying more music from iTunes. Lots of talk about privacy as well including how you can limit it to your circle of friends. Open to 160 million iTunes users straight away.
- Demonstrated Ping and played a tune plus a video from GaGa telling everyone what she is doing, concerts etc. Nice bit of promotion there…
- Ping also works on the iPhone and iPod Touch- could be HUGE! iTunes 10 is available today!
- One more thing… AppleTV. Not a big hit so far. Fair to say that the new Apple TV is small- you can hold it in your hand.
- All rentals, no purchases- you store nothing. Content can be streamed from a computer- photos etc. $0.99 to rent HD TV shows, $4.99 for HD films. ABC and Fox signed up already- waiting for the rest. You can stream from Netflix as well to the new Apple TV plus YouTube, flickr and mobileme. Apple TV interface looks quite simple and clean.
- Now demonstrating Glee on AppleTV. My daughter is happy with that one… The system plays streamed content from a PC really well- looks like an iPod for photo slideshows.
- Back to AirPlay. You can stream content from an iPad or iPhone to the new AppleTV. US, Canada, UK, France, Germany and Australia supported at launch. Price is now $99. I might buy one of those. Then again, my iPhone 4 is pretty good for films and TV episodes already- what a price though- available within 4 weeks.
- To sum up- ‘Really Cool’.
- The guitar is now on screen again. Steve is introducing Coldplay. Noooooo! Anyone, but Coldplay… or U2. Oh well, the products were impressive anyway.
I hope 4.2 doesn’t mess with the battery life of my iPad the way it has with my iPad.
Aarrgh, I mena I hope 4.2 doesn’t mess with the battery life of my iPad the way it has with my iPhone.
“This is for those of you using Windows to access the internet- approximately 90% of you”
- now you know what it has been like for the 10% of us for the past 15 years
What great stuff. New line upcof iPods. All snazzy. All with great new features.
Ios updates to provide new features and bug fixes.
Result.
Great round up Shaun. In fact, REALLY COOL!
I hate Coldplay as well…
Everyone *pretends* they hate coldplay
It’s not all glamour. Lots of stuff removed. Video on nano. Shuffle and nano headphones now don’t have remotes. Price banding and colours gone. Ie less colours on nano. Pricing. The shuffle is cheap. The jump to the nano leaves to middle gap. And the leap from the nano to iPod touch is much larger and the touch minimum price is up.
My wife Ellie wanted a pink Nano. I was going to buy one tonight. But 16gb was largest size. When I told her price of touch she changed her mind.
And why no 16gb iPod touch. Also only a 0.7mp camera on touch!
And why is Apple TV £99 in the UK when it is $99 in the states?
Is there any news on UK shows being streamed to the apple tv? I don’t see how Apple TV can charge for programs when we have iPlayer and ITV Player etc. with such a lot of free content, albeit only the last few weeks. I can stream a lot of content from iTunes onto my PS3 too, although only ripped stuff, and rent movies on it. Apple TV’s a nice gadget, but it doesn’t seem to offer much over existing tech just yet.
I asked my son if he was interested in an iPod touch now it had a camera, but he’s still only interested in getting the the 3DS!
I don’t have any sort of paid television service and I don’t savor the process (or image quality) when running my old SD tube TV as a second monitor for my iMac to watch Netflix movies. So, I think my budget for buying a new HD TV when I get out of credit card debt has just jumped by $100. Ping has absolutely no value to me. I’m just too old for that shtuff. So why did I download iTunes 10 right away? Because the old iTunes icon had a ghetto monkey stank around it, and the new one is much nicer.