September 8, 2009

Live Coverage: Apple’s “It’s Only Rock and Roll” iPod Event Wednesday 10 AM PST / 1PM EST

That's all from the live event, we will posted detailed coverage of all the announcements made by Apple later today.
  • Steve is back in stage and he thanks Norah Jones. Steve thanks everyone for coming.
  • So no surprise announcement from Apple. Basically it was just music event with new iTunes 9, iPhone OS 3.1 with Genius Mixes support and new iPods. And the "one more thing" was the most boring ever done by Apple.
  • It looks like that's it from Apple event as Steve has invited Norah Jones to play some live music on stage.
  • Apple is showing iPod nano ad. Steve is now showing Environmental checklist for iPod lineup that shows that iPods are Arsenic free, BFR free, Mercury free, PVC free and highly recyclable.
  • The nano now has 2.2-inch display, polished anodized aluminum casing, microphone and speaker, voiceover, and built-in pedometer. The 8GB model will be $149 and the 16Gb model will be $179. iPod nano is available today in nine colors.
  • Steve says nano is the most popular player in the world and Apple has sold over 100 million nano. Along with video camera Apple is also adding FM radio and Genius Mixes feature to Nano.
  • He says we have build a camera into the back of every nano. He compares the size of nano to pocket camcorders available on the market.
  • Steve is back on stage he says "one more thing". And it's "Video Camera"
  • Next is iPod classic, it gets 160GB hard drive for the same price of $249. Apple is introducing 5 new colors for iPod shuffle. It will be available in 2GB model for $59 and 4GB model for $79. Apple will also ship a Special Edition 4GB shuffle made of polished steel for $99.
  • Now he is showing a new iPod touch ad. The ad is dedicated to gaming experience on iPod touch.
  • Phil adds "we have learned that $199 is a magic price point so that's what we're going to do with iPod touch." 8GB touch will now be priced $199, 32Gb will be $299 and 64GB will be $399. No 16GB model in the lineup.
  • Phil says iPod touch is more affordable gateway to App Store at $229 and no monthly fees.
  • Phil is back on stage. It looks like Steve has give full control of the keynote to Phil.
  • The first hour of the keynote has been all about software, no hardware yet....
  • EA is showing Madden NFL 2010, it will come to App Store very soon.
  • Gameloft is showing a FPS called Nova that looks like Halo. The graphics are really good and you can listen to your own music while playing the game and multiplayer is available over Bluetooth and WiFi.
  • Gameloft is up now. They say that more than 20 million Gameloft titles have been downloaded from App Store and they have 35 titles available.
  • The game he is showing is Riddim Ribbon, which is like a combo of Wipeout and Rock Band.
  • Next up Tapulous, Ben Decrem from Tapulous says "when we launched a year ago, our crazy goal was to get 1 million users.. we got that in 3 weeks."
  • They are showing Prince of Persia. Ben from Ubisoft says "Apple has created a world class gaming experience on this platform."
  • Now game developers are coming on stage to show their new games. First it's Ubisoft.
  • Playing a demo video for different games on the iPod touch.
  • Phil says iPod touch has over 21,178 game and entertainment apps compare to 3,680 for DS and 607 for PSP.
  • He now compare it to Sony PSP, Nintendo DS and Dell netbook, saying that it bring more functionality than the first two devices and it fits in the pocket.
  • Now phil is talking how great iPod touch is. He says that customers have figured out that touch is not just a music device but it's a great pocket computer also.
  • So Apple has sold over 50 million iPhone OS based devices in about 2 years.
  • Phil says Microsoft has 1.1 percent market share. iPod touch is the fastest growing device in iPod lineup and Apple has sold over 20 million units.
  • iPod has 73.8 percent market share and Apple has sold over 220 million iPods.
  • iTunes demo is over Phil and Steve are back on stage and Phil talks about iPod.
  • It is iTunes Extras feature now showing cast interviews, exclusive clips, behind-the-scenes footage and photo galleries like on DVD or Blu-ray disc.
  • Now Jeff is showing iTunes LP features that allows you to view animated lyrics and liner notes, performance videos, artist and band photos and more.
  • The iTunes 9 interface is very clean and way easier to navigate. Facebook and Twitter integration is also very intuitive.
  • He is now showing the new and improved Sync that allows you to do selective transfer of Music, Movies, TV Shows, Audiobook and Applications. You can decided what you want to transfer Automatically and what you want to transfer manually.
  • Jeff Robbin is now demoing iTunes 9. he starts by showing the new App organization feature.
  • Apple has also redesigned the store to make it easier to find new artist, songs and movies. And like we wrote before Apple has added iTunes LP feature.
  • You can now copy songs, TV shows and movies to up to 5 computers in your house. You will see all the computers in iTunes so that you can simply drag and drop content.
  • iTunes 9 adds App management, improved sync and Home Sharing up to 5 computers
  • iTunes 9 will have Genius Dj that will play songs from your library that go great together.
  • Steve says that iTunes is the #1 music retailer in the world and is available in 23 countries. Apple has slod over 8.5 billion songs and they are introducing iTunes 9 (like we said)
  • Apple is also adding ringtones for iPhone that will be priced $1.29 compared to $1.99 charged by most carriers.
  • App Store has over 75,000 applications and Apple is introducing iPhone OS 3.1 that adds Genius feature for App Store. That will recommend applications based on previous purchases.
  • He asks Phil Schiller to join him for the presentation. He announces in 2 years Apple has sold over 30 million iPhones.
  • He says "I'm very happy to be here with you all. As some of you might know, I has a liver transplant." he thanks everyone at Apple for their support.
  • So Steve is back and is on stage now.. gets a standing ovation.
  • The whole atmosphere is of Rock and Roll.
  • Apple is playing a rock song today.
  • We are in the hall and the keynote will start in few minutes.
  • iTunes Extras will bring cast interviews, exclusive clips, behind-the-scenes footage and photo galleries like on DVD or Blu-ray disc.
  • According to Apple, iTunes LP is a visual experience of the record album. A gorgeous, immersive digital version of select albums that allows you to dive into beautiful animated lyrics and liner notes, performance videos, artist and band photos and more.
  • The new feature in iTunes 9 are faster navigation, easy preview and buy, iTunes LP, and iTunes Extras.
  • But like we said in Apple Event Rumor Roundup iTunes 9 will be available as soon as the event finishes.
  • However, when you click on the download link it takes you to iTunes 8.2.1 download page.
  • iTunes 9 is already online via this link: iTunes 9
  • Will Steve Jobs do the keynote, what do you think?
  • Just twenty minutes remaining.



We have added Apple Event Rumor Roundup that you can read till the Apple Event starts.

Apple invited analysts and media to a press event on September 9th that will be held at Yerba Buena Center for Arts in San Francisco. It is rumored that Apple will launch the next generation iPod lineup with integrated camera and iTunes 9 at the event. There are also rumors that the event won’t be just iPod only and we might see a new device (may a tablet) at the event. We will be doing live coverage of the event at live.TechzTalk.com on Wednesday September 9 starting at 10 AM PST / 1 PM EST / 6 PM London. Please join us then to find out what Apple has up its sleeve.

1 comment:

joseph sterling said...

this is indeed very informative, looking forward for more of this