Apple’s big day is finally here. As the news comes in we will be updating this post with the latest and greatest news. Analysis and commentary will follow.
The rumor mill has been more active than ever. With Apple not bringing out a new iPhone last spring there is more pent up demand and excitement than we can remember. Still, it does look as if Apple has tried to dampen expectations a bit as today approached. Is this because they have less to show or is it that they want to “wow” us with a surprise? We will all know shortly.
And here we go! We’d like to thank Slashgear, This Is My Next (Verge), Engadget and GDGT for the following photos …
This announcement is coming from the Apple campus- Town Hall. It was here that the iPod was launched.
Today the focus is on hardware, software and the INTEGRATION of the two.
“Apple has tremendous momentum” DUH!
357 stores in 11 countries.
Products are the core-
Mac and OS X Lion
6,000,000 copies of Lion downloaded already. (I figure the App Store helps with adoption!)
Comparing adoption rate to Windows 7… (WHY???)
MacBook Pro and iMac are biggest sellers in US.
23 percent growth in last year
Means 77% potential growth area. (LOL)
iPod
Launched just 11 years ago
Over 300 million iPods sold
45 million iPods from July 2010 to June 2011 and almost half of people buying very first iPod
iTunes- 20,000,000 songs, 16 billion songs downloaded.
iPhone
1Phone 4 is over half the iPhone market, 125% year over year
Apple #1 in customer satisfaction, next closest is HTC at… 49%!!
Has 5% of the world market- tons of room for growth
iPad
iPad is changing the way teachers teach, kids learn (and rabbis preach. Just saying’)
95% satisfaction rate
Used by pilots, doctors and nurses etc. (The device is finding its way into every setting.)
92% of Fortune 500 companies are testing or deploying them
Have passed 1/4 billion sales mark (holy crap)
and it is only out 18 months!!!!!!!!!!!
iOS and App Store
500,000 apps in the iTunes App Store
140,000 of them for iPad
18 billiob apps downloaded. 1 Billion a month (And remember- the iPhone launched without apps at all!!!!)
Developers have been paid over 3 Billion dollars
A new app for today lets you create and mail cards right from the iPhone or touch. (Awwww!)
FROM Apple- $2.99 sent in US, $4.99 elsewhere. (and the Apple money machine picks up steam!)
iOS 5
(I’ve been using since Beta 1 and trust me, it is a BIG DEAL!!!!)100,000 developers have had it
200 new features
Notifications- (Works great, love the drop down menu of items and the ability to control what notifies and how)
iMessage- (Nice but unless everyone you know is on an iOS device it is limited.)
Twitter Integration- (love this. seamless and easy to use globally on the device)
Reminders- (work great and are super for general, light task lists)
Newstand- (Yawn… who wants to be locked into one platform for content?)
Camera- (new features are killer and with the 8mp camera we are about to hear about…)
Picture Editing- (LOVE THIS!)
Game Center- (yawn…)
Safari- (addition of reader is great, especially on the iPad. Stripping away all the formatting is super.)
PC Free- (about time!)
And there’s lots more to come (I WANT VOICE!!!!)
ARRIVING OCTOBER 12!!!!!!!
iCloud
Over 1/3 of iTunes purchases are made on mobile devices
iTunes in the Cloud- (With iCloud you buy it on one device and, if you turn on the setting, it will automatically download that item to all your devices. It is really slick!)
Photo Stream- (This is one awesome picture. You take a picture on one device and it shows up on all of them. AND Apple stores a certain amount on iCloud for free.)
Docs in the Cloud- (the first time I tried it and something I created in Pages on the iPad just showed up on my iPhone I was like “NOW THIS is the way it should be!)
Backups- (When it finally started working for me I was like “Wow”)
NOTE: we are 45 minutes in and EVERYTHING has been a recap of what we know.
Launching “Family and Friends”– (FourSquare is crying.)
Works automatically but you can control when it stops sharing
Simple privacy controls (Unlike Facebook’s privacy settings!)
iTunes Match
Also not news to us. (I’ve been using the Beta and it is very slick!)
Scans, matches your tracks then makes the available. (All stuff we know)
iCloud is a BIG DEAL. And if it works properly (yeah I’m talking to you MobileMe) it will be a huge step forward. And so far it seems pretty solid to me in Beta.
NOW LET’S TALK
iPod
nano- UI change that offers bigger icons, built-in fitness sensors (smart since this is a ket use for it), 16 new watch faces, 8GB $129, 16gb $149. Available today.
iPod touch- (it is now the most popular portable gaming device) white version, 8GB $199, 32GB $299, 64GB 399. Available October 12
iPhone 4S
Has A5 chip
Looks just like the 4 but “inside is all new)
Up to 2X faster
Dual-core graphics which are 7X faster
8 hrs talk, 6 hours browsing, 10 hours video 40 hours music
Has two antennas and the ability to switch between them. Improves data speeds significantly, doubles downloads
Dual GSM/CDMA device (as expected)
8MP camera (as expected), 1/3 quicker camera
Face Detection on camera (point and shoots are officially dead)
Time to first show is just 1.1 second, to next shot is .5 seconds
Video- 1080p, video image stabilization, noise reduction
“To many customers this will be the best still camera they have ever owned and the best video camera they have ever owned.” (Very true)
AirPlay Mirroring is coming to the iPhone 4S- wired or wireless (this is a GREAT feature from what I have seen with the iOS 5.0 Beta)
iPhone 4S is “all new” on the inside
SIRI- Intelligent Assistant (This is really the big news today. The integration of voice that really works is HUGE)
Siri on speed and baked into the device and they are calling it- Siri!
This is really huge and, clearly from the demo, it works beautifully (not a surprise)
WOW!- “Remind me to call my wife when I leave work” Yields a new reminder that uses his wife’s name (because Siri knew it already) and sets up a geo-fence around work so that when he leaves it trips the reminder. THAT IS AMAZING
The Headline: WITH SIRI THE IPHONE JUST LEAPFROGGED THE TRADITIONAL COMPUTER AS “THE” DEVICE- IT WILL MAKE YOUR COMPUTER LOOK STUPID
NUANCE VOICE TECHNOLOGY IS, AS HOPED-FOR, BAKED INTO THE DEVICE.
PRICE- 16GB $199, 32GB $299, 64GB 399
iPhone 3GS – Free with 2 year contract
iPhone 4 – $99 for 8GB with a 2 year contract
Pre-order the iPhone 4S on Ooctober 7th, it will be available on October 14
Are you getting one?
