Tuesday, October 4, 2011


Apple's 'Let's Talk iPhone'



1:39PM Documents in the Cloud means your docs get pushed as well. "My documents are updated across my devices." Sensing a trend here...



1:38PM Now it's photos time. "Your photos are now on your camera roll, and you wish they were on all of your devices." Pictures go up to the cloud from your iPhone and then get shot out to all your other devices.



1:37PM Eddy's reminding that you can download and re-download your music or media anytime and on any device.


1:37PM Having more WWDC flashbacks. Is this Moscone? What day is it?



1:36PM It's recap time again... we're talking iTunes in the Cloud.

1:36PM "It just works, and iCloud is free."

1:36PM "We've integrated it right into our apps, so everything happens automatically."


1:36PM Eddy Cue is up on stage now to talk about iCloud.

1:35PM Get your downloads going.


1:35PM iOS 5 drops on October 12th!



1:34PM Now Scott's recapping the PC Free feature, so you can activate your device without plugging in. "There's no need for a computer." And, you can get wireless iOS updates.



1:34PM We're having WWDC flashbacks. Anybody else?

1:34PM Mail updates now, adding rich formatting. Indentation, moving addresses around, flagging them... this is all really exciting stuff here.


1:33PM Full tabbed browsing is coming to the iPad, so you can go between them with one tap instead of two.

1:33PM Syncs between iOS devices -- save once, read everywhere.


1:33PM You can add it to your reading list and hit it up later.

1:33PM Now Safari updates, talking about the reader function that strips out all the junk and pulls things into a single, readable page. "This works great on the iPad, it's fantastic on the iPhone."



1:32PM Now Game Center, updated to add photos of friends, achievement points, friend recommendations...






1:31PM And, you can use volume up to take a photo. Not a proper shutter release, but it'll do.



1:31PM We're looking at the updated Camera app now. "We're making it really easy to get to the camera and take a photo." Double-tap on the home button and, bam, you can take a pic.

1:30PM Background downloads for new issues -- hey, that sounds like Distro. Which is coming soon, by the way...


1:30PM GQ, Allure, Vanity Fair, The New York Times... lots of periodical powerhouses.



1:29PM And now Newsstand.

1:29PM Twitter integration "we have integrated Twitter deeply into the OS." No more signing in multiple times, and you can share pics right from Photos.



1:28PM Now the Reminders app. Yep, reminders. Location-aware, though, which will bug you when you're near what you need to do.


1:28PM Pushed to all devices, so you can holla from your iPhone and get a shout back on your iPad.




1:28PM Then there's iMessage -- BBM for iOS, basically.

1:27PM Swipe across any and it'll take you right there. Bam.



1:27PM There's notifications, visible from the top by swiping down -- ala Android. No more annoying popups from Tiny Tower.

1:27PM We're looking at the top 10 features of iOS 5.

1:27PM "We've already seeded 100,000 developers, and they love it. We can't wait to get it in other peoples' hands."




1:26PM "Let's talk about iOS 5."


1:26PM Email is still free, people, and it's the thought not the cardstock that counts.

1:26PM $2.99 for a card in the US, $4.99 elsewhere in the world.

1:26PM That got applause. People seem desperate to clap for something. That was it.


1:25PM Apple will print it and even mail it automatically and you'll even get a push notification for when the card is delivered.



1:25PM Hallmark, you just got served.




1:25PM Real, honest to gosh cards. You pick the pic, Apple prints it out.


1:24PM We're looking at the Cards app, which lets you make your own greeting cards.



1:24PM Apple has paid out $3 billion to developers -- and of course has taken a tidy cut itself.



1:24PM Yeah, with a B.

1:24PM Customers have download 18 billion apps -- more than a billion per month.



1:23PM "All of this together makes the App Store the number one store for mobile apps."


1:23PM More than 500,000 apps in the App Store, 140,000 are specifically for the iPad. "That gives anyone who owns an iPad a better experience."



1:23PM iOS is now the number one mobile operating system, 43 percent compared to Android's 33 percent as of the July ComScore number Apple is quoting.



1:22PM Scott Forstall is up now.

1:22PM That's 250 million iPhones, iPods, iPads, etc.


1:22PM "We have passed the quarter of a billion sales mark" for iOS devices.


1:21PM iPad is the "undisputed" #1 tablet in the world. Tim says "everybody and their brother" is trying to compete, but three quarters of all tablets sold are iPads.


1:21PM 92 percent of Fortune 500 companies are testing or deploying companies. They're not saying what they're doing with them, but they're at least buying 'em.


1:20PM iPads, iPads everywhere. iPads, iPads in your hair.


1:20PM "Over 80 percent of the hospitals in the US are now testing or piloting iPad."

1:20PM A 40 pound flight book replaced by a single iPad, making things more efficient.


1:19PM But it's not just grade schools. Colleges too, and now we're looking at flight manuals.

1:19PM That's a lot of iPads -- and a lot of peanut butter smeared on screens.

1:19PM Every state in the US has an iPad deployment program either in place or in pilot. 1,000 schools have a 1:1 program.

1:18PM iPads are "showing up everywhere" according to Tim. In schools they're "changing the way teachers teach and kids learn, and many educators agree with us."




1:18PM Now we're talking iPad. Apple's youngest category.

1:17PM Oh you tease you.

1:17PM "More coming up on iPhone..."


1:17PM Does this mean a low-end iPhone is coming today?

1:17PM Tim's showing us now that the iPhone is five percent of the overall mobile phone market. "We look at it over time that all handsets become smartphones."


1:17PM According to a ChangeWave survey, HTC is second at 49 percent. Apple is #1 at 70.






1:16PM "Customers love iPhone, and it's consistently rated #1 in every satisfaction rating I can find."



1:16PM 125 percent growth year-over-year for iPhone sales.

1:15PM The iPhone 4 now makes up half of the overall iPhone market, showing just how strongly the market is growing.

1:15PM That's a safe bet, Tim.

1:15PM "Next up is iPhone. This could be the reason why the room is so full today."

1:15PM It's the number one music store in the world, 16 billion songs downloaded.

1:14PM iTunes talk, now up to 20 million songs -- twenty times what the service launched with.


1:14PM Amazingly, almost half are going to people buying their first iPod.


1:14PM "iPod is still a large and imporant market for Apple." 45 million iPods from July 2010 to June 2011.




1:13PM Over 300 million iPods have been sold. "It took Sony 30 years to sell 220,000 Walkman casette players."



1:13PM Market share for iPod? A neat 78 percent.

1:12PM "It reminded all of us how much we love music, and made it simple to enjoy again."


1:12PM Now we're talking music, reminding us that the iPod launched in 2001 before "revolutionizing the industry."


1:12PM He's talking metaphorically. The celing here isn't actually that high.

1:12PM "There are still 77 percent of people who are buying something else. What does that mean? We have an incredibly high ceiling here. We have a long way to go."


1:12PM About one in four, give or take a few percentage points.

1:11PM The net result? 23 percent market share for Apple as of August.


1:11PM This is a trend that dates back five whole years, with Apple approaching 60 million Mac users worldwide.


1:11PM The Mac platform has grown by 23 percent since last year. The PC? Four percent.



1:10PM "The MacBook Pro and the iMac are the number one best selling notebook and desktop in the United States."



1:10PM Hear that, Intel? Tim's got your Ultrabook number.


1:10PM At the same time Apple announced the new Air, which is "thin and light and beautiful and wicked fast -- our customers love it and our competitors have been trying to copy it."

1:09PM We're comparing to Windows 7 -- it took 20 weeks to reach 10 percent of the Windows install base. It took Lion two weeks.


1:09PM Six million copies of Lion downloaded so far -- 80 percent more than Snow Leopard.

1:09PM Quoting Mossberg, saying that Lion is the "best operating system out there."

1:08PM First is the Mac, and of course OS X Lion is the big news on that front.

1:08PM "Our products are at the core of everything we do." Tim's going to walk us through all four of them.


1:08PM 357 total stores in 11 countries, and many, many more are coming to "raise the bar at retail."

1:07PM Video over, Tim's back. "I think I've watched that video 100 times and I think I could watch it 100 more."



1:07PM Lots of happy faces -- and lots of Apple bags stuffed with white boxes, it must be said.


1:07PM And lots of blue-shirted people cheering a lot.

1:06PM Okay, watching a little video about the openings. Lots of lovely scenic shots of Shanghai.


1:06PM At the Hong Kong opening, they sold more Macs on opening day than they have in any other store in the world!

1:06PM But he looks cool, comfortable. Genuinely happy and excited.



1:05PM In case you're wondering, Tim's style is a bit more subtle than Steve's, a bit more understated.



1:05PM When the LA store opened, it took a month to hit 100,000 people.



1:05PM 100,000!

1:05PM The Shanghai store is "absolute gorgeous," the company's largest store in Asia. 100,000 visitors stopped by on opening weekend.



1:04PM Two new stores opened in China in the past week, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

1:04PM "Apple has enormous momentum, and nowhere is that more evident than in our retail stores."


1:04PM Today we're going to be learning about innovations in software and hardware, and the integration of all of these into a "powerful yet simple integrated experience."


1:03PM Then there's the MacBook Air, which has "fundamentally changed the way people think about computers."



1:03PM The original iPod was launched here. "It went on to revolutionize the way we listen to music."

1:03PM This room is called the Town Hall, which Tim says has quite a history.



1:02PM "I want to especially welcome you to this campus. This campus serves as a kind of second home for many of us, so it's kind of like inviting you in to our home."


1:02PM "I love Apple."

1:02PM "It is a pleasure to host you today." And it is our pleasure to host you, readers.



1:02PM Tim Cook is on stage. "This is my first product launch since being named CEO. I'm sure you didn't know that."

1:01PM Here we go!

1:01PM Oh, and the giant Apple logo, of course.


1:01PM Not a lot to see here in the auditorium, really. Tan seats, tan carpet, neutral tones -- other than the purple lights up on the stage.


1:00PM It's all right now.


1:00PM Now we have a little "Jumpin' Jack Flash" from the Stones. Jagger's telling a tale, but the journos are getting a bit more focused.

12:58PM Oh yeah.

12:58PM "Ladies and gentlemen, our presentation will begin shortly."


12:57PM Today's music selection? It's a little Who at the moment. "I can't explain."


12:55PM Definitely a huge amount of chatter in the room, people giving last-minute phone interviews. Safe to say there's a lot of anticipation here.




12:51PM It's a small venue, Apple's home theater where they run employee events. A huge contrast to the monstrous events at WWDC.

12:51PM And we're seated, or at least Tim is. Darren's being shuffled to the back. Apparently his Nikon 70 - 200 intimidated a few people.

12:41PM Just saw that Apple's Japanese website is showing an October 14th launch date for the iPhone 4S. Guess we'll be hearing more about that guy soon!




12:33PM The line's getting a bit wild. Wild, we say.


12:28PM Of note, our Android handsets were not taken upon entry. Perhaps it's a sign of "openness."


12:27PM We're through the registration. Not surprisingly, there seemed to be an app for that. With "that" being checking us in.

12:23PM We're currently waiting here in line. Obviously, the event won't get rolling for another 40 or so minutes, so expect sporadic updates till we get seated.


12:20PM Hey! We're invited! Phew!


12:19PM Ralph's chatting it up. Looks pumped. Maybe he's about to get a new iPhone for his network. Hmm.



12:15PM We're in! And so is Ralph de la Vega, head honcho of AT&T Mobility. Not surprisingly, he's on an iPhone. But it's an iPhone 4. I bet he's super upset that he doesn't have an iPhone 5.

11:11AM Also, if you're in the Cupertino area for the next half-hour or so, swing by and say hello. We're the pair of dudes near the front with Android handsets.


11:11AM Got a few general iPhone fans gathering out here as well to watch the festivities from the sidelines. Awesome!


11:10AM Ah, seems Sue Anne's doing just fine. Huge relief! Already getting some applause out here.


11:09AM Chilly day's gettin' warmer by the minute. Topic of conversation in line? OH: "How's Sue Anne doing?"


10:43AM We just wrapped our pre-show broadcast, and are holding down the fort here in line. Looking like a bright, vibrant day in Cupertino. Pretty much the perfect day for a new iPhone. Or two. Or three.


9:57AM And, we're on campus! We're setting up now for a live broadcast outside of 4 Infinite Loop! Stay tuned for a post on that.
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