Apple is holding its annual Fall event today. Historically, these events have always focused on the iPod line. While we definitely expect to see a revamped iPod lineup, the rumor mill also points towards a new Apple TV and a major update for iTunes. A number of pundits also expect Apple to release iOS4 for the iPad today.
To find out what really happens, check out our live blog below. The event is scheduled to start at 10am PT/1pm ET.
Live Streaming
For the first time in years, Apple plans to provide a live video stream of today’s event. By default, this stream will only be available to Mac, iPod and iPad users. There are some workaround for this for Windows users, however, and we also expect to see numerous rogue streams on sites like USTREAM and Justin.tv.
Live Blog
9:42 AM:The live video stream will be available here.
9:55 AM: Audience is settling in. Eric Clapton playing in the background.
10:00 AM: Steve Jobs takes the stage.Perfectly on time.
10:01 AM: Steve points out that Woz is in the audience. His “old partner in crime.”
10:03 AM: Update on Apple retail. New stores in Paris, London and China. There are now 300 Apple stores. On some days, more than a million people visit Apple’s stores on a single day. Apple teaches 80,000 one-on-one classes in its stores per week.
iOS Update
10:05 AM: iOS update: Apple has shipped 120 million iOS devices. Apple activates 230,000 new iOS devices per day. Steve Jobs notes that some of Apple’s competitors seem to count upgrades as well.
10:06 AM: 200 apps per second being downloaded from App Store.
10:07 AM: iOS 4.1 Coming today (iPhone and iPod): bugs fixed: proximity sensor, bluetooth, iPhone 3G speed.
New features: High Dynamic Range (HDR) photos, HD uploads over WiFi, TV show rentals, Game Center.
10:11 AM: Game Center: play games with friends online. Showing how it works in Angry Bird.
10:09 AM: shows off HDR photos – very standard implementation of HDR with three different exposures.
Coming next week.
10:12 AM: Epic on stage to demo new game: Project Sword. Role-playing game (looks great on the iPhone). Uses Game Center. Show how easy it is to find other players (friends and strangers) to play with.
Going to be available in time for the holiday season.
10:15 AM: Sneak Peek at iOS 4.2: Update for iPad
10:17 AM: Air Play: stream audio, video and more over WiFi.
New feature: wireless feature and something called Air Play (“we will talk about this later”).
Demo of printing: iPad will get an option to print – print queue will be in the multitasking bar at the bottom.
10:18 AM: Demo of iOS 4.2 on iPad. Steve shows off multitasking, folders, etc. Everything looks just like iOS 4 for the iPhone.
Release date for iOS 4.2: November for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.
iPod Update
10:20 AM: 275 million iPod’s sold to date.
10:21 AM: “We have gone wild.” All-new designs for all models.
Shuffle: “It’s been a really big hit.” Recaps history of the Shuffle. People missed the buttons on the last generation shuffle.
New Shuffle: buttons, voice over and playlists. Also includes Genius mixes.
Will come in five different colors. Will sell for $49.
10:24 AM:iPod nano: “How do we make this better. The iPod nano has been super popular. We want to make it smaller and better.
The nano is now a really tiny iPod touch. Space for four icons. Comes with FM radio, volume buttons and 24 hour battery life.
“One of our board members plans to use this as a wrist watch.
10:26 AM: Demo of new iPad nano.
10:30 AM: New nano will come in 8 different colors, including a Product RED edition.
Price: $149 for 8GB and $179 for 16GB
10:30 AM:iPod Touch update: “It’s an iPhone without a contract.” Also: most popular game player in the world. Now Apple’s most popular iPod.
Over a 1.5 billion games and entertainment devices have been downloaded to the iPod touch.
10:32 AM: New iPod touch won’t get the iPhone 4 look. Instead: thinner, Retina display (“the best display in the world”), A4 chip, 3-axis gyro, iOS 4.1, front-facing camera. Support for FaceTime (also between iPhone and iPod touches).
Also: rear camera with HD video, 40 hours of music playback.
Pricing: 8GB for $229, 32GB for $299 and 64GB for $399.
Available next week. Pre-order starts today.
10:37 AM: Showing new ads.
iTunes Update
10:38 AM: “People have downloaded over 11.7 billion songs from iTunes.” 100 million movies, 35 million books, 450 million TV episodes.
“It’s clearly the #1 digital media store in the world.
10:39 AM: iTunes 10
New logo
10:39 AM: New feature: hybrid view – instead of long list with the same album title, you can now choose to see cover in the list view instead.
Discovery: “How do you find out about new stuff?” “What are my friends listening to? What concerts do my friends go to?”
Find out what your friends are listening to and downloading. With status updates, too.
Ping: a new social network all about music. Right in iTunes.
10:42 AM: Custom Top 10 chart based on what your friends and the people you follow are downloading from iTunes. “Just for you.”
Shows Lady Gaga’s Ping page. You can follow her, Twitter-style. If you want to, you can also allow anybody to follow you.
“It’s super easy to use. Most of us will live in our feeds and all the music from people we follow will be delivered to us.”
10:44 AM: Strong privacy controls: choose who can follow you, follow and be followed. “You can be as private or as public as you want.”
Available immediately.
10:46 AM: Demo time. Jobs shows how ping works.
10:48 AM: Posts to Ping can include text, video, audio. Shows profile pages. Looks a lot like Facebook.
10:49 AM: Ping will be available on the iPhone and iPod touch. Will show up right in the iTunes store on iOS (but not the iPad yet, apparently).
10:50 AM: iTunes 10 will be available later today.
One More Thing
10:51 AM: “We’ve got one more thing. Actually – it’s one more hobby.”
“We have sold a lot of them, but it has never been a huge hit.” But the people who have them tend to love them.
10:51 AM: “What do Apple TV users want? Hollywood movies and TV shows (“they don’t want amateur hour” – a little swipe at YouTube), lower prices for content. Consumers don’t want a computer in the living room. Don’t want to manage storage.
10:53 AM: People don’t want to manage storage. Want a silent, cool and small device.
10:53 AM:2nd generation AppleTV.
Extremely small. One-fourth of the size of the original. Black. Built-in power supply, 802.11n wifi, Ethernet, HDMI.
10:56 AM: No more downloads. All HD (when available).
Prices:
First run HD movies for $4.99 the day the DVD comes out.
$0.99 cent TV show rentals. Only ABC and Fox for now. Jobs hopes others will get on board soon.
Netflix support. YouTube streaming.
10:58 AM: New UI – includes ratings from Rotten Tomatoes for movies.
11:00 AM: Jobs shows demo of Netflix (instant queue, etc.), photo slideshows, movie rentals.
11:03 AM: Apple TV demo continues with TV rentals (Jobs apparently like ‘Glee’). The user interface looks very slick.
11:04 AM: “This is by far the easiest implementation of Netflix to use.” (a swipe at Roku)
11:05 AM: With Air Play, you can stream movies from iOS devices to Apple TV. Seamlessly switch back and forth between iPad and Apple TV. See photos from your iPhone on your Apple TV. No apps, though.
11:08 AM: Pricing: “$200-$300 price range was a bit too high” New lower price: $99.
11:08 AM: Available in about four weeks.
11:10 AM: Recap of today’s announcements.
11:11 AM: Obligatory music performance at the end of the event: Coldplay’s Chris Martin (“I have no new products to reveal.”)
11:14 AM: And while Chris Martin plays “Yellow,” that pretty much wraps it up for today’s event. Thanks for reading everybody!
