World of Apple

Apple’s October 23rd event invite sent out to select members of the media

Today is the day that Apple will show off its latest offering, with expectations resting on a smaller, thinner and lighter iPad. Invites went out last week to select members of the media inviting them to the California Theatre in San Jose for a special event, Apple teased members of the media and onlookers with the simple phrase “We’ve got a little more to show you”.

Whilst I’m not a fan of overanalysing Apple’s invites it’s a safe assumption based on the strength of rumours and past knowledge of Apple’s subtle hints on invites that little is referring to the smaller 7.85-inch display iPad—expected to be dubbed “iPad mini”.

However the smaller iPad might not be only smaller product Apple has up its sleeve today, many are also expecting a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display to join its larger sibling that was released in June this year.

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Yerba Buena Center for Arts in San Francisco adorned ahead of Apple’s September 12 Event | Image from Ekkapong T

Today is the day, the venue is set, the press are descending on San Francisco, and the rumour mill is firing on all cylinders but something isn’t right. There’s a sense of disappointment, confusion, despair in the Apple community—in fact even outside of it. The subject is, “if this is the next iPhone, then what’s so special?”

It is this subject that I’ve been throwing around in my head for some weeks now. The rumours are about as set in stone as they can get although they remain rumours; we know what the—potentially named—iPhone 5 will look like, what features it has, what accessories it comes with and possibly whether iPods will be refreshed alongside it (I suspect quietly).

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Developers line-up for the WWDC 2011 Keynote

Good morning from San Francisco. At 10am Pacific time Apple CEO Steve Jobs will take to the stage at the Moscone West building to discuss Mac OS X, iCloud and iOS 5. For a complete look at what is expected at today’s keynote take a look at World of Apple’s rumour roundup as well as our special coverage of iCloud and iOS 5.

World of Apple will not be providing live coverage of the WWDC keynote but we will offer a full commentary of what Apple announces, we will also be updating our Twitter feed with photos and text updates. For live coverage please visit one of the following sites:

• Mac Rumors
• This is my next…
• Macworld
• The Loop
• The Next Web
• Engadget

The keynote begins at the following times:

10:00AM – Pacific
11:00AM – Mountain
12:00PM – Central
01:00PM – Eastern
06:00PM – London
07:00PM – Paris
09:00PM – Moscow
02:00AM – Tokyo (Tuesday 7th)
04:00AM – Sydney (Tuesday 7th)

Join World of Apple after the keynote for a full roundup of news and analysis.

Yerba Buena Center Prepared for Apple’s March 2011 Event | Photo by Kiel

Today Apple will host an event in San Francisco for members of the media to unveil what is predicted to be a refreshed iPad. The event will also be simulcast to a European audience who will be at the BBC Television Centre in London.

Apple’s event will begin at 10AM Pacific Time, 1PM Eastern Time and 6PM London time.

Unlike previous events Apple does not appear to be offering a video stream, World of Apple recommends the following liveblogs for up to date coverage. Also follow our Twitter account for further updates.

• Engadget
• Ars Technica
• Macworld
• Andy Ihnatko
• The Loop

Outside Yerba Buena Center ahead of Annual iPod Event | Photo by adamjackson1984

Apple is offering a live video stream of today’s media event which will take place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

For a picture of what to expect from today’s media event please take a look at our rumour roundup.

Join World of Apple on Wednesday, September 1 at 10AM PT/6PM BST for news and analysis of what Apple releases during its annual iPod event.

Starting times in other timezones:

10:00AM – Pacific
11:00AM – Mountain
12:00PM – Central
01:00PM – Eastern
06:00PM – London
07:00PM – Paris
09:00PM – Moscow
02:00AM – Tokyo (Thursday 28th)
03:00AM – Sydney (Thursday 28th)

Apple’s special event will begin momentarily. Follow updates below (newest first). Manually refresh for updates.

• Is there a reason why you won’t be able to see a timeline in Twitter or an IM conversation in the background? Answer: We think it works better with the push notifications as it’s in place now. The fast-app switching is very complicated and more impressive than what we demoed.
• Given the huge demand of iPad demand in the US, will that impact the international launch? Jobs: No. It’ll still be near the end of April, like we said.
• The development of these rich iAds…will Apple make a development platform for people to make these ads? Jobs: This isn’t necessary. They’re all HTML5 ads and people can choose any tools they want. As long as it’s HTML5.
• Will iAds have an approval process? Jobs: “Um… well there’s going to be some process… but these people are paying to run ads. So, I’m not sure it’ll be anything other than a light touch.”
• Will AT&T suffer due to increased data usage with multitasking? Jobs: No
• Q&A with Steve Jobs, Phil Schiller and Scott Forstall.
• Thats it, Q&A will follow.
• iPhone OS 4.0 available for iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 3G in Summer, available for iPad in Fall.
• “We are releasing it for end users for iPhone and iPod touch for users this summer. For the 3GS and iPod touch 3rd gen. And, for iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2nd gen, they will run many things… but there are some things they won’t run, like multitasking.”
• “So let’s review. Multitasking, folders, enhanced mail, iBooks, enterprise, Game Kit, and iAd. And these are just seven of the 100 new user features. Now we are releasing a dev preview today.”
• Advert has a built-in game to play, as well as the ability to tap into the Maps API.
• Adverts within the app are completely interactive, built using HTML5.
• Demo.
• “Apple is going to sell and host the ads, and we’re going to do a 60/40 split.”
• Interactive and video content ads
• Ads keep you in the app
• “What we want to do with iAds is deliver interaction and emotion.”
• “The average user spends over 30 minutes every day using apps on their phone. If we said we wanted to put an ad up every 3 minutes, that’s 10 ads per device per day. That would be 1b ad opportunities per day.”
• A new way for devs to get ads into their free or reasonable priced apps to make more money.
• Feature 7: iAd
• Apple has created a social gaming network with achievements, leader board and match making.
• 50,000 games in the App Store
• Major feature 6: Game center
• Support for Exchange 2010 and new VPN options
• Data protection, mobile device management, wireless app distribution
• Feature 5: Enterprise
• Wirelessly sync books between platforms
• Major feature 4: iBooks on iPhone
• Ability to open attachments in specific App
• Multiple Exchange accounts support
• First up, unified Inbox
• Feature 3: enhanced Mail
• With folders you can now have over 2000 apps on the iPhone, well above previous 180 app limit
• Showing how home screen wallpaper can be changed
• Folders can be placed in the Dock
• Allow apps to be placed into folders on home screen, folder icon shows as a multi-icon.
• Second major feature… App folders
• Finally, fast app switching. Allows apps to freeze current state
• Task completion, allow Flickr to finish uploading photos while surfing in Safari
• Local notifications don’t use Apple’s servers
• Over 10 billion push notifications passed through Apple’s servers
• On top of push notifications are now local notifications.
• Indicator in status bar when an App is asking for location
• Run a navigation app and listen to music at the same time.
• Next up background location
• With Skype running in the background you can still receive phone calls
• APIs allow for background music playing, next up Voice over IP
• Music continues playing when you’ve come out of Pandora.
• Controller on lock screen also controls Pandora.
• Demo of Pandora
• Offering multitasking services as APIs to developers
• Scott Forstall on stage to discuss how Apple has conserved battery and performance with multitasking
• “Also, you see the new look of the dock. So that is multitasking. We’ve been using it a lot and it changes the way you use the iPhone.”
• Switch between apps by double-clicking home button and a dock of running apps pulls up.
• Mulitasking – “It’s easy to do this in a way that drains battery life, and a way that reduces performance of the foreground app. If you don’t do it right, your phone will feel sluggish.”
• New iPhone OS UI, custom background on iPhone.
• First – mulitasking
• 7 major features
• 100 new features
• Hardware acceleration framework
• Over 1500 new APIs, access to calendar, photo library, quick look
• iPhone OS 4.0…
• 85 million iPhone OS apps available
• 50 million iPhones sold to date
• In U.S. iPhone has 64% mobile browser share
• Won the JD Power award for 2010, that’s three years in a row
• Onto the iPhone
• Steve showing some iPad apps that are available
• 3,500 apps in iPad App Store
• Over 185,000 apps in the App Store
• Over 4 billion apps downloaded across all devices.
• 3.5 million iPad apps downloaded through today.
• Sold 300,000 iPads on first day, 450,000 through to today.
• Showing quote from Walt Mossberg’s iPad review, Jobs: “Walt’s a pretty tough critic and I thought this was pretty amazing.”
• Steve Jobs on stage, we’re going to talk about iPhone OS 4.0 but first the iPad.
• Media have been seated, event due to begin imminently.
• Event looks set to begin late.

Apple HQ, 1 Infinite Loop | Photo by Wysz - Flickr

World of Apple will be offering live coverage of today’s media event which will take place at the Apple’s Infinite Loop offices in Cupertino.

Apple is set to show off the next major revision of iPhone OS. Details of what will be available in iPhone OS 4.0 are slim but expectations rest on the ability to have multiple apps open at once and switch between them and to be able to place contacts on the home screen. Rumours have also pointed to the ability to print from devices such as the iPhone, iPod touch and very recently the iPad.

In addition to a preview of iPhone OS 4.0 Apple is also expected to release a revision of the accompanying software development kit (SDK) which gives developers the tools to create apps for the platform. Within this new SDK it is likely that Apple will include tools to integrate mobile advertising through Apple’s new iAd platform.

Join World of Apple on Thursday, April 8 at 10AM PT/6PM BST for up to the minute coverage of iPhone OS 4.0 and accompanying SDK.

Starting times in other timezones:

10:00AM – Pacific
11:00AM – Mountain
12:00PM – Central
01:00PM – Eastern
06:00PM – London
07:00PM – Paris
09:00PM – Moscow
03:00AM – Tokyo (Thursday 28th)
05:00AM – Sydney (Thursday 28th)

Apple’s special event will begin momentarily. Follow updates below (newest first). Refresh for updates.

• That’s it. Event finished.
• “Apple’s the one place we can do this: we built battery tech, chip tech, software — we bring all those things together in a way no one else can do.”
• Case that doubles as stand also available.
• iPad has accessories including a keyboard dock.
• iPad shipping in 60 days, 3G models in 90 days.
• “At $499 a lot of people can afford an iPad. 16GB is our base model. For 32GB it’s $100 more, and for $100 more than that you get $64GB. The 3G models cost another $130.”
• iPad pricing starts at $499.
• “iPad, the whole internet in your hand”
• All iPads unlocked and are GSM. Use micro-sims.
• International deals coming in June-July timeframe.
• No contract, can cancel at anytime.
• AT&T providing the service.
• Unlimited plan for $29.99.
• First plan includes 250MB data per month for $14.99
• iPad models available with 3G built-in.
• iPad syncs with iTunes like the iPod and iPhone. Everything is synced through iTunes.
• Compatibility with Mac versions and the iPad can connect to a projector.
• Keynote, Pages and Numbers available for $9.99 each.
• Phil Schiller on stage. Completely reworked versions of Pages, Keynote and Numbers.
• iWork UI rebuilt for iPad.
• “Now something very exciting” iWork
• Steve demo’ing iBooks store. Some books showing at $14.99
• “We’re very excited about this.”
• Apple has developed a new app called iBooks for e-book reading.
• Steve back on stage.
• Demo of Need for Speed shift from EA. Demonstrating the speed of the iPad.
• Demo from the New York Times who have developed an app.
• Demos from developers.
• Developers can develop for the large display. New SDK available today including iPad tools.
• All the apps in the App Store will run on iPad.
• “We built the iPad to run virtually every one of these apps unmodified right out of the box. We can do that in two ways — do it with pixel for pixel accuracy in a black box, or we can pixel-double and run them in full-screen.”
• Scott Forstall on stage to talk about 3rd party software
• Over a month of standby battery life
• 10 hour battery life
• 802.11n wireless, Bluetooth 2.1+
• 16, 32, or 64GB of flash storage.
• Powered by custom chip called the A4 running at 1GHz
• Super precise touch display
• 0.5-inches thin, weighs 1.5 pounds has a 9.7-inch IPS display.
• Demonstrating calendars, Maps street view, iTunes, iTunes store, HD YouTube playback
• Demonstrating typing with two hands, all fingers.
• 
• Two-pane email view.
• Steve demonstrating web surfing “scrolling is super smooth”
• “iPad is an awesome way to enjoy your music collection. And, of course, we have the iTunes store built right into the iPad.”
• “a wonderful way to share your photos. Built in a calendar. Address book, great maps app with Google Maps.”
• On-screen keyboard
• 
• Steve holding iPad, very thin. Customisable home screen looks like a mix between OS X and iPhone OS.
• Introducing iPad.
• A device would have to do things like web browsing better than a laptop.
• “Everyone uses a laptop and/or a smartphone. The question has arisen lately: is there room for a third category device in the middle?”
• “Let’s get to the main event.”
• “Apple is the largest mobile devices business in the world today”
• Apple a $50 billion company.
• Over 140,000 apps in the App Store and over 3 billion downloads.
• 284 retail stores open
• We’ve recently sold our 250 millionth iPod
• Steve on stage.
• Press is being seated.
• 5 minutes until showtime.
  

Yerbe Buena Center during the evening of Wednesday. January 26. Photo by roger jones - http://flic.kr/p/7yFq8k

World of Apple will be offering live coverage of today’s media event which will take place at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco.

Apple is expected to unveil its long-rumoured tablet computer during the event as well as the possibility of revealing iPhone OS 4.0 and a new version of iLife.

Join World of Apple on Wednesday, January 27 at 10AM PT/6PM GMT for up to the minute coverage of Apple’s “latest creation.”

Starting times in other timezones:

10:00AM – Pacific
11:00AM – Mountain
12:00PM – Central
01:00PM – Eastern
06:00PM – London
07:00PM – Paris
09:00PM – Moscow
03:00AM – Tokyo (Thursday 28th)
05:00AM – Sydney (Thursday 28th)

Live coverage from Apple’s “It’s Only Rock and Roll” event.

View the complete rumour roundup for this event here.

Newest updates towards the bottom, refresh for updates

• Event beginning in 30 minutes, media being rolled into event.
• UK media getting a run down of European media initiatives.
• iPhone 3GS available in over 40 EMEA countries
• Apple retail store expected to open in France before years end
• Main Apple event set to begin soon.
• Steve Jobs on stage.
• Steve Jobs emotionally thanking Tim Cook, Apple community and organ donors.
• 30 Million iPhones sold in just over 2 years.
• iPhone OS 3.1 available today for iPhone and iPod touch users.
• Genius now available for apps in the App store.
• 30,000 ringtones available on the iTunes Store, available for $1.29
• iTunes the number one music retailer in the world
• 8.5 billion songs sold worldwide
• 100 million accounts active on iTunes
• iTunes store has been refreshed in iTunes 9
• Genius Mixes are like great radio stations
• Improved iPod and iPhone syncing, artist, genre now available for syncing
• Events and Faces can now be synced from iPhoto as well as albums
• App organisation available in iTunes during sync
• iTunes LP is “cocktail”
• iTunes LP includes extra content: videos, photos, track lists, credits.
• Jeff Robbin on stage for demo of iTunes 9
• Wishlists now on iTunes store
• Send a link to Facebook or Twitter right from iTunes store
• Phil Schiller talking about the iPod
• 220 million iPods sold so far
• 73.8% market share in the US
• 20 million iPod touch units sold
• Genius mixes also on the iPod touch, automatically created playlists of songs you’ll love
• App demos.
• Talking about iPod price cuts.
• 32GB and 64GB iPod touch include CPU and RAM upgrades.
• iPod classes now available in 160GB for $249
• iPod shuffle available in five colours
• iPod shuffle $59 for 2GB, $79 for 4GB
• Special edition iPod touch $99 for 4GB, stainless steel.
• One more thing…
• Video in the new iPod nano
• FM Radio and pedometer now built into the iPod nano
• iPod nano, 8GB for $149, 16GB for $179
• Live performance from Nora Jones
• Event finished.