Meanwhile, Apple plans to continue selling an eight gigabyte iPhone 4 for $99 — and an 8GB iPhone 3GS for free — with new contracts. Also, the iPhone 4S will be coming to Sprint, meaning Android models will no longer have the run of their stores; this leaves T-Mobile USA as the only national carrier without an iPhone.

With a new two-year contract, a 16GB iPhone 4S will sell for $199, while the 32GB version will sell for $299 and the 64GB model for $399. Preorders start on Friday, and the new phone will be available Oct. 14 in the U.S., Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan.

Apple is also adding a second major carrier — KDDI — in Japan, in addition to longtime partner SoftBank.

More than 70 countries will be supported by the end of the year, Apple Senior VP Phil Schiller said, making it the fastest iPhone rollout in the company’s history.

RELATED POSTS:

• Commas, Zeros and No. 1: Apple’s iPhone 4S Event by the Numbers
• In Depth With Siri: The Full Demo From the D7 Conference (Plus an Old-School Bonus)
• Tim Cook Follows Steve Jobs’s Footsteps Closely in Big Stage Debut
• Just Like We Didn’t Tell You: No Apple-Facebook Tie-Up Today
• Why Siri Sounds Like a Lady
• I Am Number 4S? — No Sparkly iPhone 5 Disappoints Apple Fans (and Wall Street)
• Exclusive: AT&T’s New App Will Let You Get a New iPhone — From Your Existing iPhone
• Apple’s Quiet iPhone Move: More Price Pressure
• Apple Wants You to Meet Siri, Your New Personal Assistant
• Apple’s Game Center Scores 67 Million Players
• So What Puts the S in the New iPhone 4S?
• Apple’s “Find My Friends” Location Feature Is More Like Glympse Than Foursquare
• Apple Updates iPods with Cheaper iPod Touch and Nano
• Apple Turns the iPhone into a Hallmark Store
• Apple’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” Event, LIVE
• Even If He’s Not at Apple Event, Steve Jobs Sure Knows How to Put on a Show
• Viral Video: The iPhone 5 as Love Potion #9
• Mostly Sunny With 100 Percent Chance of Apples
• What’s Behind a Tim Cook Apple Event (Comic)
• Apple Launching iPhone 5 in October
• Apple’s Next Event to Be Held on October 4, Starring Its New CEO
• October iPhone Event to Be Held on Apple Campus
• Apple Announces October 4 Event: Let’s Talk iPhone

First up is the new A5 processor — the chip used in the iPad 2. The chip also packs an Apple-designed digital signal processor that can help with things like face detection on the camera, according to Apple Senior VP Phil Schiller, who led the part of Tuesday’s event focused on the new iPhone.

Second, Apple has tweaked the wireless networks and antennas, allowing a single phone to be a world phone, and also supporting a faster flavor of the kind of wireless networks used by AT&T, known as HSPA+.

Third, the phone packs a higher-resolution eight megapixel sensor with backside illumination, which Schiller said allows the camera to grab 73 percent more light and to be up to a third faster at snapping pictures. It can also take higher-resolution 1080p high-definition video.

“It really is the one camera you want to have with you all the time,” Schiller said.

The new iPhone, like the iPad 2, also supports mirroring to a TV over AirPlay and Apple TV or a wired connection. And, naturally, it packs iOS 5.

“It’s the best iPhone yet,” Schiller said.

Saving the best for last, though, Schiller talked about the new voice control features.

While other phones — and the iPhone itself — have had voice control, Schiller noted they have largely been limited to very specific commands, such as playing a song or calling a person.

“It is such a letdown,” Schiller said. “What we really want to do is just talk to a device.”

Apple’s new feature is dubbed Siri, with the name coming from a “virtual personal assistant” company that Apple bought last year.

The event is still going on, with talk having shifted to the new iPhone 4S. For live coverage, click here.

RELATED POSTS:

• Commas, Zeros and No. 1: Apple’s iPhone 4S Event by the Numbers
• In Depth With Siri: The Full Demo From the D7 Conference (Plus an Old-School Bonus)
• Tim Cook Follows Steve Jobs’s Footsteps Closely in Big Stage Debut
• Just Like We Didn’t Tell You: No Apple-Facebook Tie-Up Today
• Why Siri Sounds Like a Lady
• I Am Number 4S? — No Sparkly iPhone 5 Disappoints Apple Fans (and Wall Street)
• Exclusive: AT&T’s New App Will Let You Get a New iPhone — From Your Existing iPhone
• Apple’s Quiet iPhone Move: More Price Pressure
• Apple Wants You to Meet Siri, Your New Personal Assistant
• Apple’s Game Center Scores 67 Million Players
• So What Puts the S in the New iPhone 4S?
• Apple’s “Find My Friends” Location Feature Is More Like Glympse Than Foursquare
• Apple Updates iPods with Cheaper iPod Touch and Nano
• Apple Turns the iPhone into a Hallmark Store
• Apple’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” Event, LIVE
• Even If He’s Not at Apple Event, Steve Jobs Sure Knows How to Put on a Show
• Viral Video: The iPhone 5 as Love Potion #9
• Mostly Sunny With 100 Percent Chance of Apples
• What’s Behind a Tim Cook Apple Event (Comic)
• Apple Launching iPhone 5 in October
• Apple’s Next Event to Be Held on October 4, Starring Its New CEO
• October iPhone Event to Be Held on Apple Campus
• Apple Announces October 4 Event: Let’s Talk iPhone

The company made only modest changes to the iPod line, but pledged its continued support for that business, which it says still accounts for more than three in four MP3 players sold.

“We’re going to continue making the world’s best music players,” Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller said.

The iPod touch stays largely the same, but now comes in white as well as black — both models will pack iOS 5 when they go on sale Oct. 12. The entry-level 16 gigabyte model drops by $30 to $199; there will also be a 32GB version for $299 and a 64GB model for $399.

The iPod nano drops a bit in price to $129 and $149, and also gets new features, including the ability to track walks and runs without additional sensors or software. Apple also added 16 new clocks to the iPod for those who like to use their iPod nano as a watch — there are retro-styled LED models and Disney options, including Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse designs.

Apple said it will continue to sell the 2GB iPod shuffle for $49. The company appeared to quietly ax the iPod classic.

The event is still going on, with talk having shifted to the new iPhone 4S. For live coverage, click here.

Update: Although Apple showed a picture sans iPod Classic on stage and called that “the fall lineup,” the company notes at the bottom of a press release that the lone hard drive-based model remains in its product line at the same price: $249 for the 160GB variety.

RELATED POSTS:

• Commas, Zeros and No. 1: Apple’s iPhone 4S Event by the Numbers
• In Depth With Siri: The Full Demo From the D7 Conference (Plus an Old-School Bonus)
• Tim Cook Follows Steve Jobs’s Footsteps Closely in Big Stage Debut
• Just Like We Didn’t Tell You: No Apple-Facebook Tie-Up Today
• Why Siri Sounds Like a Lady
• I Am Number 4S? — No Sparkly iPhone 5 Disappoints Apple Fans (and Wall Street)
• Exclusive: AT&T’s New App Will Let You Get a New iPhone — From Your Existing iPhone
• Apple’s Quiet iPhone Move: More Price Pressure
• Apple Wants You to Meet Siri, Your New Personal Assistant
• Apple’s Game Center Scores 67 Million Players
• So What Puts the S in the New iPhone 4S?
• Apple’s “Find My Friends” Location Feature Is More Like Glympse Than Foursquare
• Apple Updates iPods with Cheaper iPod Touch and Nano
• Apple Turns the iPhone into a Hallmark Store
• Apple’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” Event, LIVE
• Even If He’s Not at Apple Event, Steve Jobs Sure Knows How to Put on a Show
• Viral Video: The iPhone 5 as Love Potion #9
• Mostly Sunny With 100 Percent Chance of Apples
• What’s Behind a Tim Cook Apple Event (Comic)
• Apple Launching iPhone 5 in October
• Apple’s Next Event to Be Held on October 4, Starring Its New CEO
• October iPhone Event to Be Held on Apple Campus
• Apple Announces October 4 Event: Let’s Talk iPhone

Later this morning, the company will debut its latest iPhone, the fifth in the handset’s history. Though it’s not precisely clear what form it will take, most observers expect the fifth-generation iPhone to boast a dual-core A5 processor, one gigabyte of RAM, an improved camera, a dual-band GSM/CDMA chip that will transform it into a so-called “world phone” that can support multiple wireless network standards, and a rumored virtual personal assistant that arose out of Apple’s 2010 acquisition of Siri.

Beyond that, we’re likely to hear more about iCloud (which may steal the show) and its promise of a simple, seamless sync, iOS 5 and its nearly 200 new features, and perhaps an update or two to the company’s long-running iPod line. We’ll also get to watch newly installed CEO Tim Cook make his first big product introduction, an event that may well set the tone for his new role.

So join us here for what promises to be an exciting morning. Our live coverage begins at 10 am PT.

Live Blog

8:50 am: We have arrived on the scene at Apple’s campus in Cupertino, Calif.

9:22 am: The real reason why they held the event in Cupertino: omelettes!

9:44 am: The doors have opened and attendees are filing into the auditorium to the sound of Eric Clapton’s “Let It Rain.”

9:48 am: Lots of tech luminaries in the audience here today. A quick scan of the room reveals Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, AT&T Mobility President Ralph de la Vega, Verizon chief marketing officer Marni Walden, longtime Apple analyst Charlie Wolf and newly minted Qualcomm COO Steve Mollenkopf.

9:54 am: Most of Apple’s executive team — Phil Schiller, Eddie Cue, Bob Mansfield, etc., are now seated down front. The auditorium’s pretty much filled to capacity. We should be starting any moment now.

9:58 am: Five minute warning.

10:00 am: The lights dim and here’s Tim Cook, ready to deliver his first big product announcement. Lots of applause.

10:02 am: This is my first product launch as CEO — I’m sure you didn’t know that. I love Apple, and I consider it a privilege to work here. I am very excited by this new role.

10:03 am: I want to welcome you to Apple and to this room, which has a particular significance for us. In this room we launched the MacBook Air and other products … this room reminds us of the innovations we’ve announced at Apple.

10:04 am: This is an extraordinary time for Apple, says Cook, before running through some metrics. He talks briefly about Apple’s new store in Hong Kong, which recently launched.

10:05 am: Tim Cook is using Steve Jobs’s playbook, beginning with a series of updates, starting with Apple retail. Apple just opened two stores in China — one in Hong Kong and one in Shanghai.

“There is amazing momentum here,” Cook said, showing the all-glass staircase. “Only Apple could do this.”

Also doing good business — it had the best Day One store performance of any store.

10:06 am: We sold more Macs on opening day in Hong Kong than we sold at any other store opening in the world, says Cook. Now a video documenting the launch of the Hong Kong store.

10:07 am: Cook steps back into the spotlight. “We now have six stores in China. We now have 357 stores in 11 countries.

10:08 am: Moving on now to product updates. First up, some thoughts on Lion. Cook cites Walt’s review of Lion and his remark that it’s one of the best operating systems ever. “I don’t think I could have said it any better,” says Cook. He adds that, to date, six million copies of Lion have been downloaded.

10:10 am: At the same time we announced Lion, we announced the MacBook Air. It’s wicked fast. Our customers love it and our competitors are desperate to copy it, Cook says. The Mac and MacBook are the number one best-selling desktop and notebook in the United States.

10:11 am: More metrics, the Mac’s installed base is approaching 60 million around the world.

In U.S. retail, says Cook, Macs are selling one out of four PCs.

10:14 am: Next up: Music. “It was only 10 years ago that iPod launched and it not only revolutionized the way we listen to music, but it revolutionized the entire music industry. It reminded us why we love music so much. It made music part of our lives again. … The iPod quickly became the number one music player in the world.” To date, Apple has sold more than 300 million iPods.

10:15 am: Cook notes that the iPod is still an important business for Apple and the halo effect still remains strong. “The iPod is still a lot of people’s first introduction to Apple.”

Sixteen billion songs downloaded on iTunes.

10:15 am: Moving on to iPhone now. “This is probably why most of you are in the room today.” Cook notes the device’s extraordinary growth. Ninety-three percent of the Fortune 500 are testing or deploying the iPhone.

Customer satisfaction for the iPhone is very, very high, says Cook. “The iPhone is pummeling the competition.” He cites the recent ChangeWave and J.D. Power customer satisfaction surveys.

10:18 am: Talking now about the iPad. “IPads are showing up everywhere. IPads in schools are helping kids learn in amazing new ways. … Every state in the U.S. now has an iPad pilot program or deployment. And almost 1,000 schools have a one-to-one program … About 1,000 universities across the U.S. have iPad programs.”

10:20 am: “IPads are also showing up in airplane cockpits and in hospitals. Over 80 percent of the top hospitals in the U.S. are either testing or deploying iPads. … 92 percent of the Fortune 500 are testing or deploying the iPad.”

A stunning metric considering the device has only been available for 18 months.

Three out of four tablets sold in the U.S. are iPads.

10:22 am: Nice. Cook name-checks ATD. “Consumers don’t want tablets, they want iPads.”

10:23 am: Cook welcomes Scott Forstall to the stage to talk about iOS.

“IOS is the number one mobile operating system with 43 percent of the market,” says Forstall. He also notes that the iTunes App Store is the number one store for mobile apps. Customers have downloaded more than 18 billion apps to date. There are one billion downloads per month. Apple has now paid out more than $3 billion to developers.

10:25 am: Forstall talking about a new app called Cards. Allows you to create greeting cards on your iPhone or iPad. Apple will produce them and distribute them. “You make the card. We do the rest. … We’ll even send you a push notification the day your card is delivered.”

10:26 am: Price: $2.99 in the States, $4.99 internationally.

10:28 am: Now, a broad overview of iOS 5. Developers love it, says Forstall. He notes the OS has more than 200 new features, though he’s only going to talk about 10. Notifications: iMessage, a new messaging service between iOS users. “IMessages are pushed to all your devices so you can start on one and pick up on another.”

Next up, a brand-new app called Reminders. Offers location-based reminders via geo-fence. “Remind me to pick up my laundry when I leave work.”

10:31 am: More: Twitter integration. “We’ve deeply integrated Twitter into iOS. You can tweet photos, Web sites from Safari, videos from YouTube.”

Next up: Newsstand. “There are a lot of publications that are now building subscriptions for the iPad — the New Yorker, GQ, Vanity Fair. Newsstand organizes your subscriptions and downloads new issues in the background.”

10:31 am: Moving on now to the camera, which Apple has also significantly updated. Better-quality photos and new ways to edit and improve them on your iPhone.

Next, Game Center: 67 million people are using Game Center. Apple has added friend discovery and game recommendations to the service, among other things.

10:34 am: Next up, Safari: Forstall talks briefly about Reader, which makes Web pages easier to read. He moves on quickly to tabbed browsing before jumping ahead to Mail, which has been enhanced with better search functionality, etc.

Now, PC-free. “There’s no need for a computer. You take your iPhone out of the box and you can set it up.” Also: wireless updates.

10:35 am: IOS 5 will be available as a free update on October 12.

10:36 am: Eddie Cue takes the stage to talk about iCloud. Quick overview of how iCloud manages photo storage and distribution. “It just works.”

“Over a third of the music we sell in the iTunes store is purchased on iOS devices,” says Cue. He notes that once iCloud launches, “songs purchased via iPhone or iPad on iTunes will automatically be downloaded to a user’s Mac for no additional charge.”

Moving on now to PhotoStream. “With PhotoStream, photos taken on your iPhone are automatically sent to iCloud and then pushed to your other devices. They even download right to iPhoto on your Mac.”

10:38 am: Now, Documents In The Cloud. Same scenario. Documents synced to iCloud are updated across devices. Start editing on your Mac, continue on your iPad and finish on your iPhone.

10:39 am: More from Cue: “Buy a book on your iPad, start reading it, move to your iPhone and continue right where you left off.”

Contacts and Calendars work the same way. Update once, update everywhere.

10:40 am: Find My iPhone has been updated to find Macs as well.

New app: Find My Friends. Locates family and friends via same sort of Find My iPhone mechanism. Timed location sharing. Easily locate friends and family, temporary sharing option, simple privacy controls and great parental restrictions.

10:42 am: Moving on now to iTunes Match. “With over 20 million songs, Apple has the largest music store in the world. We’ll scan your music library and match it, and if we find something we don’t have, we’ll upload it.” Again, the goal here is data ubiquity across devices.

ITunes Match is $24.99 per year.

10:45 am: Cue wraps up with a broad overview of all the iCloud services he just mentioned. ICloud ships on October 12. ITunes Match goes live closer to the end of the month.

Now, a video break. Promo for iCloud that touts the same features Cue just described.

10:46 am: Phil Schiller takes the stage to talk about iPod.

10:47 am: “We’re still making great iPods. In fact, it’s the best lineup we’ve ever made.”

Apple’s rolling out a few updates to the line today. First, the iPod nano, which has been made easier to navigate and enhanced with some fitness-related improvements, plus UI additions (new clocks, etc.). Mickey Mouse watch!

New prices, $149 for 16GB, $129 for 8GB.

10:50 am: Next up: the iPod touch. Schiller notes that the device is now the most popular portable game player in the world.

10:51 am: Schiller says iOS 5 and iCloud will bring tremendous upgrades to the iPod touch.

Apple’s now offering a white version of the touch.

$399 for 64GB, $299 for 32GB, $199 for 8GB. They’ll be available on the 12th.

10:53 am: Here we go. Moving on now to the iPhone.

10:54 am: “Despite competitors trying really hard to copy the iPhone,” says Schiller, “they just haven’t been able to do it. … How do you follow up a hit product like the iPhone 4? … With the iPhone 4S.”

Retina display. Same design with metal band around exterior.

10:55 am: IPhone 4S will run on the same A5 chip that’s in the iPad. Also up to seven times faster graphics, which will do some amazing things for games.

Mike Capps from Epic Games takes the stage. Talks about Infinity Blade and its forthcoming successor Infinity Blade 2. Amazing graphics. Dynamic Light Rays, something the company used in Gears of War, has been brought to the iPhone.

This is really impressive. Very cinematic, but running in real time.

10:58 am: Infinity Blade 2 will be available December 1.

10:59 am: Schiller returns to talk about battery life. Eight hours of 3G talk time, 10 hours of video, etc.

11:00 am: Moving on to the antenna, which now intelligently switches between two antennas to transmit and receive. Better call quality and faster data. Downlink speeds are double the iPhone 4: 5.8 up, 14.4 down.

Heard these numbers before? Schiller says these are the same numbers that rivals often claim are 4G.

11:02 am: As expected, Apple has unified its CDMA and GSM devices into a single world phone.

11:03 am: There’s a new camera system as well.

“For the iPhone 4S, we set our sights on competing not with other phones, but with point-and-shoot cameras. … So we’ve added an eight megapixel sensor that shoots 3264×2448. … we’ve also added backside illumination with a sensor that gathers 72 percent more light. … On top of that we’ve placed a hybrid IR filter for better color accuracy … and we have a five-element lens that offers 30 percent more sharpness, f/2.4 aperture.”

11:06 am: Built in to the camera: Face detection and better auto-white balance. The new camera is also significantly faster. Takes just 1.1 seconds to take a first picture and .5 seconds more to take a second.

“I don’t know what Droid Bionic users do between pictures,” says Schiller. “Get coffee, I guess.”

11:08 am: Showing some photo examples now. Great sharp colors and detail.

11:09 am: Moving on now to video. The 4S shoots 1080p HD video. Some applause for that. Also features video image stabilization, temporal noise reduction.

Quick video demo. Hot air balloon ride.

11:11 am: Moving on now to AirPlay. Quick overview of the technology and then the news: Apple is bringing AirPlay mirroring to the iPhone.

11:12 am: Schiller wraps up by rehashing the announcements he’s just made. He’s really stressing iOS 5 and iCloud.

11:13 am: “But we really haven’t discussed the best feature yet … it’s all about voice.”

New feature: Siri, an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking.

“What we really want to do is just talk to our device and we want to talk to it any way we’d like.”

11:14 am: Schiller invites Forstall back on stage to do a Siri demo, but cautions that it’s still in beta so things could go awry.

Forstall asks Siri, “What is the weather like today?” The phone replies with, “Here is the weather for today,” and a screen detailing the weather.

11:16 am: “Do I need a raincoat?”

Siri: “It sure looks like rain today.”

Siri actually understands the concept of “raincoat” and how it relates to weather. Pretty sweet.

11:16 am: “What’s the time in Paris?”

Siri gives an accurate time and shows a clock.

“Wake me up tomorrow at 6 am.”

Siri sets an alarm and tells the user that it has done so.

11:17 am: “How’s the Nasdaq doing today?”

Again, an accurate vocal reply and a screen showing a market chart.

Apple has partnered with Yelp to integrate restaurant reviews. It has also integrated maps. “Give me directions to Hoover Tower.” Siri provides them.

11:19 am: You can also ask Siri to read your text messages.

Forstall demonstrates an exchange in which he receives a lunch invitation, checks his calendar, and sends a reply to the original sender with a suggested date for lunch. This is all done hands-free, simply by talking to the phone.

11:21 am: “Remind me to call my wife when I leave work.”

Siri creates a reminder with a geo-fence so that when he leaves work, it will remind him to call his wife.

11:22 am: “Search Wikipedia for Neil Armstrong.”

Siri heads right for Safari and pops the Armstrong page on Wikipedia.

Apple has also partnered with Wolfram Alpha to do dictionary searches, calculations. “Define mitosis.” “What’s the exchange rate on the Euro right now?”

11:24 am: “How many days until Christmas?”

Eighty-two, in case you were wondering.

11:24 am: Forstall notes that you can’t use Siri to do everything, but you can use it to do a pretty broad spectrum of things — call people, create reminders, compose and dictate email, traffic and directions, weather, stocks, set timers, contacts, search Web, create notes, search “wolfram alpha.”

“Who are you, Siri?”

“I am a humble personal assistant.”

11:27 am: Schiller returns to the stage. He adds that Siri takes dictation, before noting that the service is both contextual and conversational.

When iPhone 4S launches, Siri will be available in English, French and German, with more languages to follow.

11:28 am: Now, another video.

Typical Apple reel with the company’s executive bench talking about the design and development of the iPhone 4S.

11:32 am: For more on Siri, check out this story.

11:30 am:

iPhone 4S
64GB for $399
32GB for $299
16GB for $199

iPhone 4 will now be available for $99, 8GB only.
iPhone 3GS, 8GB for free.

Very aggressive pricing.

IPhone 4S preorders begin Friday. The phone will ship on October 14.

11:35 am: IPhone 4S will be available on AT&T, Verizon and, yes, Sprint.

When the rollout is done the iPhone will be in 70 countries, on 100 carriers.

11:36 am: Cook returns to wrap things up with another overview of the morning’s news.

“When you look at each of these things, they’re industry-leading in and of themselves, but what puts them out front is how they’re engineered to work together so well. Only Apple can make such powerful hardware and services like this and bring them together. I am so proud of Apple and all the people that worked so hard to make these things a reality.”

And with that, he leaves the stage.

And so ends a workmanlike job by Cook in his first big product introduction. But you can’t help but miss the showmanship that Jobs always brought to these events; he would have made the Siri technology explanation really sing.

The event’s over. Thanks for reading.

RELATED POSTS:

• Commas, Zeros and No. 1: Apple’s iPhone 4S Event by the Numbers
• In Depth With Siri: The Full Demo From the D7 Conference (Plus an Old-School Bonus)
• Tim Cook Follows Steve Jobs’s Footsteps Closely in Big Stage Debut
• Just Like We Didn’t Tell You: No Apple-Facebook Tie-Up Today
• Why Siri Sounds Like a Lady
• I Am Number 4S? — No Sparkly iPhone 5 Disappoints Apple Fans (and Wall Street)
• Exclusive: AT&T’s New App Will Let You Get a New iPhone — From Your Existing iPhone
• Apple’s Quiet iPhone Move: More Price Pressure
• Apple Wants You to Meet Siri, Your New Personal Assistant
• Apple’s Game Center Scores 67 Million Players
• So What Puts the S in the New iPhone 4S?
• Apple’s “Find My Friends” Location Feature Is More Like Glympse Than Foursquare
• Apple Updates iPods with Cheaper iPod Touch and Nano
• Apple Turns the iPhone into a Hallmark Store
• Apple’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” Event, LIVE
• Even If He’s Not at Apple Event, Steve Jobs Sure Knows How to Put on a Show
• Viral Video: The iPhone 5 as Love Potion #9
• Mostly Sunny With 100 Percent Chance of Apples
• What’s Behind a Tim Cook Apple Event (Comic)
• Apple Launching iPhone 5 in October
• Apple’s Next Event to Be Held on October 4, Starring Its New CEO
• October iPhone Event to Be Held on Apple Campus
• Apple Announces October 4 Event: Let’s Talk iPhone

Tuesday, Oct. 4.

That’s the day Apple is currently expected to hold its next big media event, according to sources close to the situation, where the tech giant will unveil the next iteration of its popular iPhone.

While there have been a lot of conflicting reports about the exact timing of the event, including some that pegged it as taking place this month, AllThingsD had previously posted that the rollout of the iPhone 5 would be in October.

While Apple could certainly change its plans anytime, sources said that the Oct. 4 date has been selected by the company to showcase the iPhone 5. Sources added that the plan is now to make the new device available for purchase within a few weeks after the announcement.

And while the iPhone 5 is a much-anticipated handset, the event itself has a lot more importance for Apple than many previous ones.

That’s because it will be newly installed CEO Tim Cook’s first big product introduction, and the place where the public will get a first lengthy impression of him that may well set the tone for Cook’s new role.

And that’s why, said sources, although he’s never quarterbacked an Apple product announcement before, Cook is certain to preside over the iPhone 5 rollout.

He has to, of course. To pass the presentation on to anyone else — even one of Apple’s key executives, such as Phil Schiller, who has handled the Macworld and Worldwide Developers Conference keynotes in 2009 — would undercut Cook’s new role and reinforce public perception that its legendary outgoing CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs is Apple, and that it will be a different company without him.

So, like his predecessor, and as Jobs’s right-hand man and chosen successor, Cook is expected to be the main presenter at all big Apple media events going forward.

That said, according to sources, he’s sure to have help from Apple lieutenants, such as marketing head Schiller, iOS chief Scott Forstall and Eddy Cue, recently named SVP of Internet Software and Services.

Still, the pressure will be on Cook to turn in a good performance at the event, especially after what has so far been a very smooth leadership transition at Apple.

What will be interesting to see, of course, is if Jobs himself will also make an appearance, which is something that is likely to be determined by his health, in a decision that will be made very close to the event.

And while putting Jobs onstage with Cook could diminish the new leader’s first public effort, what better “one more thing” than Jobs himself making a cameo appearance?

No one at AllThingsD.com had any idea the mild-mannered head of Apple marketing Phil Schiller was so hip.

Well, at least in this cool video, in which he is Auto-Tuned from the Worldwide Developer Conference for Apple in June, using the naughty quote above from our own John Paczkowski.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs told Mobilized that the company wanted to figure out exactly what was and wasn’t happening, and then figure out the best way to explain a complex set of issues to its customers.

“We’re an engineering-driven company,” Jobs said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “When people accuse us of things, the first thing we want to do is find out the truth. That took a certain amount of time to track all of these things down. And the accusations were coming day by day. By the time we had figured this all out, it took a few days. Then writing it up and trying to make it intelligible when this is a very high-tech topic took a few days. And here we are less than a week later.”

During the phone interview, Jobs and senior vice presidents Phil Schiller and Scott Forstall talked about what information the iPhone is and isn’t collecting, some lessons learned and the need for the industry to do a better job of explaining things to customers.

Jobs declined to say whether he thought Google or others needed to do a better job on privacy issues, but did note that Apple’s approach is different.

“Some of them don’t do what we do,” Jobs said. “That’s for sure.”

Jobs said that the company is leading the way when it comes to privacy and said Apple looks forward to testifying before any congressional inquiries on such issues. During the talk, the execs also touched briefly on the release of the long-delayed white iPhone. Also, Jobs declined to comment on when he might return full time to Apple.

Here is an edited transcript of the interview:

One of the challenges here is that, by their nature, location-based services require location information, but that information is highly sensitive and can be used in a lot of ways. How does Apple approach this balance?

Jobs: I think we do two things. Number one is we get consent from users if we are going to use location, or we never use location. That’s what we do. It’s very straightforward.

We haven’t been tracking anybody’s location and the files they found on these phones, as we explained, it turned out were basically files we have built through anonymous, crowdsourced information that we collect from the tens of millions of iPhones out there.

We build a crowdsourced database of Wi-Fi and cell tower hot spots, but those can be over 100 miles away from where you are. Those are not telling you anything abut your location. That’s what people saw on the phone and mistook it for location.

Is there anything that you guys have learned over the last week or so and take away from this?

Forstall: One thing I think we have learned is that the cache we had on the system–the point of that cache, is we do all the location calculations on the phone itself so no location calculations are done separately. You can imagine in an ideal world the entire crowdsourced database is on the phone and it just never has to talk to a server to do these calculations (or) to even get the cache.

What we do is we cache a subset of that. We picked a size, around 2MB, which is less than half a song. It turns out it was fairly large and could hold items for a long time.

We had that protected on the system. It had root protection and was sandboxed from any other application. But if someone hacks their phone and jailbreaks it, they can get to this and misunderstand the point of that.

It’s all anonymous and cannot be traced back to any individual phone or person. But we need to be even more careful about what files are on the phone, even if they are protected.

Jobs: As new technology comes into the society there is a period of adjustment and education. We haven’t, as an industry, done a very good job educating people, I think, as to some of the more subtle things going on here. As such, (people) jumped to a lot of wrong conclusions in the last week. I think the right time to educate people is when there is no problem. I think we will probably ask ourselves how we can do some of that, as an industry.

A bunch of folks on the regulatory side, both in the U.S. and elsewhere, said they are going to look into this. Do you guys plan on testifying before Congress? How active do you personally and does Apple want to be?

Jobs: I think Apple will be testifying. They have asked us to come and we will honor their request, of course. I think it is great that they are investigating this and I think it will be interesting to see how agressive or lazy the press is on this in terms of investigating the rest of the participants in the industry and finding out what they do. Some of them don’t do what we do. That’s for sure.

It seems like one of the issues is on the app level. You have apps that do as little, on the Android side, as providing battery information and want access to the dialer and location information. Do you think consumers ought to be paying attention to the individual apps they are using and what sorts of permissions those apps (require)?

Jobs: We think so, and that’s why we were the first to institute a procedure that cannot be worked around by applications where if any application wants access to location data, it has to ask the user first. It has to get the user’s permission on a per-application basis.

You mentioned in the statement today that Apple is using the collective location data to build a collective traffic database. At our D8 Conference last year you talked about the importance of full disclosure by the industry. Do you think Apple and other companies need to let people know specifically what you guys are doing with the information and choose whether to participate in these commercial projects, or do you think Apple and others should have fairly broad use of anonymized data?

Jobs: If people don’t want to participate in things, they will be able to turn location services off. Once we get a bug that we found fixed, their phone will not be collecting or contributing any crowdsourced information. But nor will it be calculating location.

Schiller: Sometimes it helps people to understand an analogy that describes what these things are like because they are so new. I would think an analogy of a crowdsourced database is every time you walk into a retail store, many retailers have a clicker that counts how many people come in and out of the store. Nobody really cares about that because it is completely anonymous. It is not personal data. It is not anything to worry about. It’s not something that people feel is private because it is really not about them. It’s a coagulated total of all traffic. These crowdsourced databases are sort of like that.

Things like that aren’t so scary when you think about them in everyday terms.

Is traffic the only thing you are using that collective data for, or do you have other plans?

Jobs: We mention the traffic service and I think that is all we are going to mention at this point in time before we have something to announce.

But you are not saying that is the only thing you might use it for?

Jobs: We are building a crowdsourced database based on traffic and that is what we are saying.

Is there a need for any finer level of control, or is the on-off switch the right way to go?

Forstall: We are really vigilant about privacy and location and we have worked really hard to make the experience as transparent as possible and give the user full control. As you say, whenever any user wants any application to access their location, the user has to approve that on a per-application basis. That’s even true for Apple’s built-in applications.

In addition, whenever any application uses location, an indicator appears in the status bar. In settings, you can see a list of every single application on the phone that a user has approved for location and the ones that they have not approved for location. They can actually go and turn it off temporarily for an app, if they like. In addition, any application which has used location within the last 24 hours is shown, with an indicator in settings. So a user can know which applications that a user has approved for location have actually used location recently. We think this is incredibly fine grain and the best out there.

Steve, how active have you been in examining this issue over the past couple of weeks?

Jobs: It hasn’t been a couple of weeks. This all started last Wednesday and we put out our response this morning. It took us slightly less than a week. Scott and Phil and I have worked together over this last week, first to investigate the problem.

We’re an engineering-driven company. When people accuse us of things, the first thing we want to do is find out the truth. That took a certain amount of time to track all of these things down. And the accusations were coming day by day. By the time we had figured this all out, it took a few days. Then writing it up and trying to make it intelligible when this is a very high-tech topic took a few days. And here we are less than a week later.

I was curious if you have an ETA about when you would be coming back full time?

Jobs: Look, we’re here to talk about location today, not me.

PREVIOUSLY:

• Apple Breaks its Silence on Location-gate, Plans To Ship White iPhone on Thursday
• Illinois AG Presses Apple, Google for Location Data Details
• Google: Of Course Our Location-based Services Require Your Location Info
• My iPhone Is Tracking Me? That’s Outrageous, But Also Kind of Cool.

Although Apple announced plans for both a black and a white iPhone 4 last year, the company was forced to delay the availability of the white model several times. The company said on Wednesday that it plans to put the white models on sale this week.

“It was challenging,” Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller said during a joint interview with CEO Steve Jobs on Wednesday. “It’s not as simple as making something white. There’s a lot more that goes into both the material science of it–how it holds up over time…but also in how it all works with the sensors.”

Schiller said that it turned out there were a lot of unexpected interactions between the color of the device and various internal components. Also, like fair-skinned humans, white iPhones need a little more UV protection from the sun.

“We thought we were there a year ago, or less than that, when we launched the iPhone 4, and we weren’t,” Schiller said. By waiting, he said that the company was able to deliver a product that will live up to expectations.

Jobs noted that the work Apple had to do to get the white iPhone ready has benefited the company more broadly.

“We obviously think about this in a generic way because you have a white iPad,” Jobs said, toward the end of an interview on Apple and the various issues around location-based data.

In that interview, Jobs reiterated that the iPhone isn’t tracking anyone, but said that the industry needs to do a better job of explaining the nuances of what is a complex set of technical issues. Jobs also confirmed that Apple will testify before Congress next week, as requested.

I’ll have more detailed comments on the location issues and other topics in a post to go up shortly.

“We haven’t been tracking anyone,” Jobs said in a telephone interview with Mobilized on Wednesday. “The files they found on these phones, as we explained, it turned out were basically files we have built through anonymous, crowdsourced information that we collect from the tens of millions of iPhones out there.”

Last week, researchers drew attention to a file on iPhones that contained a trove of location data stretching back months, and concerns grew that the iPhone was keeping a record of everywhere it had been. Jobs reiterated that hasn’t been the case and highlighted Apple’s strict policies regarding how location information is used. The company did find a bug was leading this data cache to be stored even on phones that have location data turned off and pledged to fix that in a future update as well as to keep a smaller amount of data stored on the phone.

Jobs declined to comment on the practices of other companies, including Google, but stressed that Apple requires users to turn on location-based information and allow it for each application. It also gives people a way to see which applications have been using such information both at the time and over the past 24 hours.

Earlier on Wednesday, Apple issued a statement, noting that it isn’t tracking iPhone users’ locations, but acknowledging some bugs in the way location information has been collected and stored. It promised to change some of its practices in forthcoming software updates.

Jobs said that the tech industry hasn’t done a good job of educating users on what has been a fairly complicated issue.

“As new technology comes into the society there is a period of adjustment and education,” Jobs said. “We haven’t–as an industry–done a very good job educating people, I think, as to some of the more subtle things going on here. As such, (people) jumped to a lot of wrong conclusions in the last week.”

He said Apple looks forward to testifying before Congress and other regulatory bodies and said the company will do what it can to clarify things further.

“I think Apple will be testifying,” Jobs said. “They have asked us to come and we will honor their request, of course.”

Jobs also said it will be interesting to see how aggressively the press tracks the issue and looks at what other players in the industry do.

“Some of them don’t do what we do,” Jobs said. “That’s for sure.”

Jobs was joined in the interview by fellow Apple executives Scott Forstall and Phil Schiller. I’ll have a more detailed post with comments from all three executives up shortly.

PREVIOUSLY:

• Apple Breaks its Silence on Location-gate, Plans To Ship White iPhone on Thursday
• Illinois AG Presses Apple, Google for Location Data Details
• Google: Of Course Our Location-based Services Require Your Location Info
• My iPhone Is Tracking Me? That’s Outrageous, But Also Kind of Cool.

The financial wire says that a white iPhone 4 will be arriving for both AT&T and Verizon Wireless in the coming weeks. Apple has repeatedly delayed the white iPhone, most recently saying it would arrive this spring, a position reiterated in a tweet last month from Apple exec Phil Schiller.

Bloomberg said that the delays stemmed from issues with, among other things, peeling paint.

An Apple representative was not immediately available for comment on the report.

The arrival of a new iPhone 4 model in the coming weeks could add further substantiation to reports that an update to the iPhone is not coming in time for Apple’s developer conference in June. At the same time, a new color might tempt some that have been holding out for a new model.

PREVIOUSLY

• Apple: No White iPhones ‘Til Spring
• Steve Specifically Asked for Snowfall White and They Came Back Navajo White
• What Happened to the White iPhone 4?

Printed on the invitation to the special event Apple’s holding today in San Francisco, that tagline–a smirking riff on the deluge of post-CES “Year of The Tablet” stories–leaves little doubt about what the company plans to show off today: The next iteration of the iPad.

Join us here at 10 AM PT for live coverage of the event.

9:35 am: The AllthingsD team has arrived we are waiting to be let into the auditorium at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

9:43 am: Finally inside the theater now after enduring a Tokyo subway-style queue. Spotted outside earlier this morning, Pixar’s John Lasseter and Walter Isaacson, formerly Chairman and CEO of CNN and the Managing Editor of TIME.

9:48 am: Attendees still filing in to fill what will presumably be a packed house. Beatles in heavy rotation on the speaker system. Down front, Apple’s executive bench has assembled: Tim Cook, Phil Schiller, Jony Ive, Eddie Cue and Bob Mansfield.

9:53 am: Ina here. John’s going to be doing the play-by-play and I’ll chime in from time to time with color commentary. If you have questions, feel free to tweet @inafried and I will try to answer them.

9:58 am: If you are sad you aren’t here inside Yerba Buena, here’s a 360-degree panorama of what it looks like.

9:57 am: If Cook, Schiller, Ive and Mansfield are all in the front row two minutes prior to the event, I wonder who master of ceremonies will be …

10:00 am: Looks like we’re moments away from kick-off.

10:01 am: The lights dim to “Here Comes The Sun,” and Steve takes the stage to a standing ovation.

10:03 am: “We ve been working on this product for a while and I just didn’t want to miss the day,” he says.

First a few updates …

10:03 am: 100 million books have been downloaded from iBooks in less than a year, says Jobs, adding that today Random House is adding its catalog to the iBooks Store.

10:04 am: Moving on, Jobs notes that there are now 200 million iTunes accounts with credit cards and one-click purchasing. He suggests that that number may be larger than even Amazon’s registered user base.

10:05 am: Two more metrics: $2 billion paid out to iOS developers and 100 million iPhones shipped.

10:06 am: Now a quick overview of Apple’s blockbuster products: iPod, iPhone, and iPad. “Every one of these has been a post-PC blockbuster product,” says Jobs. He adds that people initially mocked Apple for claiming the iPad as magical. “Ask our competitors what they think now,” he quips.

10:08 am: “We sold 15 million iPads in 2010,” says Jobs. “That’s more than every tablet PC ever sold….iPad generated $9.5 billion in revenue last year…and our competitors were flummoxed.”

10:09 am: More numbers: 65,000 apps in App Store that take full advantage of iPad. “Consumption apps, creation apps, games, apps for enterprise…all taking advantage of this magical interface…65,000 apps specifically tailored to the iPad. That compares to the about 100 apps most of our rivals are launching their new tablets with.” Sharp little dig there at Google and its Android Honeycomb OS.

10:11 am: Ina here, Jobs clearly is not pulling any punches, getting in some good zingers in on all of its rivals, from Microsoft to Google to Samsung.

10:11 am: Now some compliments for Apple’s retail stores. Jobs seems to feel strongly that they really drove the iPad’s stunning adoption rates. Then a quick video reel celebrating that contribution as well as the iPad itself.

10:15 am: The video’s theme: the iPad as game changer–iPad is changing medicine. It’s changing enterprise. “It’s changing people’s lives.”

10:16 am: Ina here. Powerful moment with in the video with a mom of an autistic child talking about how the iPad is helping her son learn.

10:16 am: Jobs returns to the stage. “2010 was an exceptional year for us,” he says. “What will 2011 be? The year of the copycats?” A slide appears behind him posing the same question surrounded by the names of Apple’s competitors in the space–HP, Samsung, BlackBerry. Jobs notes that none of Apple’s rivals to date have been able to match iPad on features or price.

10:18 am: Nope, it won’t be the year of the copycats, says Jobs. It will be the year of iPad 2. “We haven’t been resting on our laurels,” he says. “Today we’re going to introduce iPad 2.”

10:18 am: And there it is. What’s changed in the device? It’s got an all new design, it’s dramatically faster, it runs on a dual-core A5 processor.
Up to 2x faster CPU, up to 9X faster graphics.
This will be the first dual core tablet to really ship in volume, says Jobs.

10:19 am: Also new in iPad 2: front and back facing cameras and gyroscope.

10:20 am: Aesthetically, iPad 2 is dramatically thinner. “Not just a little thinner,” says Jobs. “It’s a third thinner … the new iPad 2 is actually thinner than the iPhone 4… all of these other tablets coming out are thicker than the original iPad, they don’t even approach this”

10:21 am: iPad 2 is also lighter than its predecessor and comes in 2 colors: black and white. “And we’re going to be shipping white from day 1,” says Jobs to applause. No mention of the white iPhone 4, which still hasn’t shipped …

iPad 2 will support both AT&T and Verizon, also from day 1.

10:22 am: What about battery life? Though iPad 2 is thinner and lighter than iPad 1, it’s still got 10 hours of battery life. “We really happy to keep that and never let it go.”

10:24 am: Battery life isn’t the only thing Apple’s preserved in iPad 2. It’s preserved the devices price structure as well. $499 is still the base model price.”

10:24 am: Jobs: “We think 2011 is going to the year of iPad 2 … so when are we going to ship it? April, May, June? No. On March 11 in the US and on March 25th in 26 other countries…this thing’s going to be everywhere in the month of March.”

10:26 am: Moving on now to accessories. The first: an HDMI mirrored video out cable that works with all apps and supports rotation.

10:27 am: Guys behind me find this very, very exciting.

10:27 am: HDMI cable is $39.

10:27 am: Next up, a smart case. Jobs notes that Apple’s original case for the iPad added bulk and made the device difficult to charge. “We felt we could do better than that.” Hence, the smart cover, a foldable cover that can be used to prop up the device and also automatically puts the device to sleep when its placed on the device and wakes it up when it’s removed.

Interestingly, the cover is held onto the iPad by magnets that evidently auto-align it.

10:26 am: For all the specs, check out this post:

10:30 am: Smart covers are available in leather or polyurethene–”the stuff space suits are made of,” says Jobs.

10:31 am: “As you see, we actually built magnets into the iPad itself and magnets into the cover as well.”

Poly cases come in 5 colors are run $39. Leather cases come in 5 colors as well and run $69.

10:32 am: Along with iPad 2, Apple is releasing iOS 4.3. Jobs brings Scott Forstall on stage to talk about it.

10:33 am: 4.3 boasts improved Safari performance via a Nitro Javascript engine, iTunes Home Sharing and a bunch of AirPlay improvements.

The next iteration of AirPlay supports video play in apps as well as the browser.

10:35 am: Another addition, allowing users to use the iPad switch as a mute button or a rotation lock.

10:35 am: And another, this one for iPhone 4 only–Personal Hotspot.

10:36 am: Moving on now to software updates. iOS 4.3 supports Apple’s PhotoBooth application with all its various filters which can now be manipulated with touch.

For all the basics on the new iOS 4.3 features, check out this post.

10:38 am: Next … FaceTime. “We support it on the iPhone and the iPod Touch and now we’re bringing it to iPad,” says Forstall adding that any combination of those devices can FaceTime one another.

“The size of the iPad is just ideal for FaceTime,” says Forestall. “Your face just fits perfectly within the dimensions of its screen.”

10:40 am: iOS 4.3 will be a free download on March 11 and it will support most of Apple’s newer iOS devices.

10:41 am: Jobs returns to the stage to talk about some new applications Apple is launching. “We like to set the bar high for developers so that they can say ‘wow, if Apple can do that, I can do better.’”

10:42 am: First application is iMovie for iPad, a new universal version for iOS that takes full advantage of the iPad form factor.

The fact that iMovie will be a universal app is nice for all those folks that have both iPads and iPhones–means they don’t have to purchase twice. (Ina)

10:43 am: Editing interface is similar to the one found on the Mac, but boasts touch editing. Tap and drop into timeline, double-tap to cut, press and hold to roll an edit.

10:45 am: Audio editing tools have been improved as well–waveform analysis, sound effects, support for multiple audio tracks and voiceover.

10:47 am: Also new in iMovie for iPad: Direct sharing with YouTube, Facebook, etc., and a few new transitions.

10:49 am: Jobs returns to the stage. “It’s awesome. It just blows my mind, this stuff….So many great features, all for $4.99.”

IMovie for iPad will be available on March 11 as well.

10:50 am: The second application Apple’s announcing today: GarageBand for iPad.

10:51 am: Xander Soren, Director of Music Marketing for Apple handles the demo.

10:51 am: the iPad’s touch interface obviously adds some pretty major enhancements to the application.

10:52 am: Soren plays a few notes on the iPad keyboard before moving on to talk about dynamics, which have been added to the application. Apple uses the iPad’s accelerometer to determine the force with which a note is played and uses it to create pretty realistic dynamics.

10:53 am: The app’s obviously perfect for keyboard, but what about guitar and drums?

10:55 am: Slick. Synthesizer panel supports a theremin-esque whammy.

I can’t play an instrument worth a darn, but the iPad version of Garage Band makes me wish I could. Amazing digital recreations of real-world gear. (Ina)

10:55 am:Drums look and sound pretty slick as well. Also uses touch to create dynamics.
“This is really great for kids who want drums,” says Soren. “They can play them with headphones.”

10:57 am: Oh wait, there are “smart instruments” for people like me. Winner (ina)

10:57 am: Classic Apple attention to detail. Laying your hand across the strings of the guitar panel mutes them.

10:58 am: “These smart instruments are like musical training wheels,” says Soren. “You really can’t play a wrong note.”

10:59 am: GarageBand for iPad’s editing canvas seems similar to its desktop counterpart, though it supports recording of up to 8 tracks only.

11:01 am: Apple’s press release on the iPad 2 has hit the wire here. (ina)

11:02 am: Steve returns to the stage. “I’m just blown away by this stuff…anyone can make music now with something so small and light….I cannot tell you how many hours teenagers are going to spend on this making music.”

Like iMovie, GarageBand for iPad is $4.99.

11:04 am: Jobs circles back now, reviewing what we’ve seen so far today. iPad 2–faster, lighter, thinner, black and white, iOS 4.3, Smart Covers, new applications …

“We think 2011 is really going to be the year of iPad 2.”

11:05 am: Rolling another video now. Apple execs lauding the new iteration of the iPad and stressing its new features. Jony Ive notes that the iPad 2 is easier to hold than its predecessor.

11:09 am: Scott Forstall recaps iOS 4.3 and new apps like GarageBand for iPad. Bob Mansfield offers some more detail on the device’s innards, its A5 chip and improved graphics performance.

11:10 am: Ive: “The original iPad defined a new category and iPad 2 will redefine it for years to come.”

11:11 am: Jobs returns to the stage to wrap things up with a few observations about the tablet market. “Our competitors are looking at the tablet market like it’s the next PC market,” he says. “But we don’t think that’s the right approach. Tablets are post-PC devices that need to be easier to use than a PC–more intuitive. The hardware and software need to intertwine much more than they do on a PC. And we think we’re on the right path with this.”

11:14 am: Then a call for applause for the employees who worked on iPad 2. Says Jobs, “As always, I’d also like to thank everyone’s families because they support us and let us do what we love to do.”

And that’s it.

Thanks for reading.

UPDATE: And here’s a video with a bit of post-event analysis.

Related Posts

• Steve Jobs Appears
• Apple’s iPad 2: The Basics
• The Skinny on iOS 4.3
• Mobilized Gets Hands-On With the iPad 2

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110302/coming-up-apple-ipad-event-liveblog/feed/ 15 http://allthingsd.com/20110112/verizon-got-its-iphone-but-its-imprint-on-device-is-small/ http://allthingsd.com/20110112/verizon-got-its-iphone-but-its-imprint-on-device-is-small/#comments Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:35:00 +0000 Ina Fried http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=2317 Verizon Wireless got what it wanted most from Apple–the ability to sell an iPhone running on its network.

Beginning on Feb. 10, customers will be able to walk into an Apple or Verizon retail store, or go online, and purchase an iPhone 4 that works on the carrier’s CDMA network, fulfilling a long-held dream of both the Basking Ridge, NJ company and many of its customers.

But if Verizon had hopes of putting its own stamp on the product, all it takes is a close look to see that didn’t happen.

The Verizon logo isn’t on the device’s case nor will its logo appear at startup–something common on most phones that don’t start with the letter “i.” And while Verizon has a couple of its own iPhone applications, it won’t be able to bundle them on the phone as it can on other devices. Rather, customers will have to opt to download them from the App Store.

Indeed, the only way to look at the device and tell it is running on Verizon’s network is a small indication on the upper left hand corner of the home screen that bears the name of the network the device is running on. (Incidentally, that can change if one is roaming on another carrier’s network, such as if you take the device to another supported country.)

To be fair, AT&T has no greater mark on the iPhone, although it did have the U.S. exclusive on the device for the past many years.

The biggest thing Verizon managed to secure, aside from the iPhone itself, was to get Apple to build-in support for using the iPhone as a mobile hotspot–a significant feature not found on the AT&T version. And Apple did have to do a fair amount of work to support the feature, according to Senior Vice President Phil Schiller.

“A big part of it is the software, I’d say the biggest part,” Schiller told Mobilized in an interview on Tuesday. “It uses the hardware in different ways.”

Aside from that difference, the two carriers largely are competing on the strengths and weaknesses of their respective networks. AT&T was quick to tout the fact it can make calls and access data at the same time as well as the global nature of its phone which works on GSM networks used in most parts of the world (as long as one is willing to pay stiff international fees). Verizon, meanwhile, looks to capitalize on widely expressed frustration with dropped calls and other issues with the AT&T iPhone.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110112/verizon-got-its-iphone-but-its-imprint-on-device-is-small/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110111/apples-phil-schiller-on-building-the-verizon-iphone/ http://allthingsd.com/20110111/apples-phil-schiller-on-building-the-verizon-iphone/#comments Tue, 11 Jan 2011 17:19:02 +0000 Ina Fried http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=2255 Although it is largely similar to the existing iPhone 4, developing a CDMA version of the iPhone was hardly a simple task, Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller told Mobilized on Tuesday.

“It was a lot of work,” Schiller said, speaking on the sidelines of the Verizon iPhone event on Tuesday. Earlier, Apple and Verizon executives notes that the two companies have been talking about building a CDMA iPhone since 2008 and that the project involved months of testing that eventually involved more than 1,000 test devices.

The only major feature difference is the fact that the Verizon model can be used as a hot spot to connect up to five other devices to the Internet.

“A big part of it is the software, I’d say the biggest part,” Schiller said. “It uses the hardware in different ways.”

The Verizon iPhone is Apple’s first foray into phones that run on a CDMA network. Schiller wouldn’t comment on whether Apple plans to offer a CDMA version of the iPhone in other countries, but acknowledged that door is now open.

One opportunity that the hotspot option opens up is the ability for customers to buy a Wi-Fi only iPad that taps the Verizon iPhone’s cellular connection to access the Internet.

“It’s a good way to do it,” Schiller said.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110111/apples-phil-schiller-on-building-the-verizon-iphone/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20101130/twitter-trusts-no-longer-verifies/ http://allthingsd.com/20101130/twitter-trusts-no-longer-verifies/#comments Tue, 30 Nov 2010 18:19:48 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=26467 On the Internet no one knows you’re a dog. And on Twitter, no one knows if you’re really Kim Kardashian. Unless Twitter says so, via its “verified account” badge.

But that system, introduced by Twitter back in June 2009, is going away.

The messaging service hasn’t taken down the icons it assigned to certain famous users, which were supposed to tell users they “can trust that a legitimate source is authoring their Tweets.” But in most cases, it is not assigning new badges.

Twitter actually shut down verification at the end of August, but almost no one seems to have noticed. Aside from this ClickZ story,  the only other mention I can find of the change is this vague note on Twitter’s help site, which says the company is going to replace the old system with a new one “that will be better for users.”

One reason Twitter and the famous people who use it have been able to soldier on: Verified accounts haven’t been completely closed–if you’re really, really important, the service may be able to help you out.

“We continue to very selectively verify accounts most at risk for impersonation on a one-off and highly irregular basis,” Twitter PR exec Carolyn Penner writes.

One recent worthy: Apple marketing exec Phil Schiller, who showed up on the service early, way back in 2008, but didn’t start actively using it until this month, when he earned the “verified” badge.

[Image credit: Annie Mole]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101130/twitter-trusts-no-longer-verifies/feed/ 4 http://allthingsd.com/20101026/nintendo-more-scared-of-apple-than-microsoft/ http://allthingsd.com/20101026/nintendo-more-scared-of-apple-than-microsoft/#comments Tue, 26 Oct 2010 14:32:51 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=51343 Which company is the greater threat to Nintendo’s gaming business–Apple or Microsoft? According to Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime, it’s Apple–at least in the short term. “Do I think that in the near term [Apple] can hurt us more than Microsoft?” Fils-Aime said to Forbes. “Absolutely.”

And it appears Apple already is. According to some statistics trotted out at its annual September music event, Apple’s developed quite a hold on the portable gaming market. The company claims a 50 percent share of the portable gaming market and says the iPod touch is the No. 1 mobile gaming device worldwide, outselling the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP combined. And that hold will only strengthen with the recent launch of Apple’s Game Center–a new interactive gaming service included in iPhone OS 4–and the proliferation of cheap and increasingly more sophisticated games for the platform (seen Epic Citadel, yet?).

It’s said that Nintendo views Apple as the “enemy of the future.” And it clearly is that. But it’s also very much an enemy of the present and the recent past as well. As Phil Schiller, Apple’s SVP of worldwide product marketing, said over a year ago: “People are starting to see what a great gaming device [the iPod touch is]. When you think about the companies that came before us…when you played those other systems, they seemed so cool, but now when you look at them, they don’t stack up against the iPod touch….No Multi-Touch user experience, Games are expensive, No App Store, No iPod, Expensive Games and uncomfortable retail buying experiences.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101026/nintendo-more-scared-of-apple-than-microsoft/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20101020/facetime-for-mac/ http://allthingsd.com/20101020/facetime-for-mac/#comments Wed, 20 Oct 2010 18:15:30 +0000 Beth Callaghan http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=50992 In what has to be the shortest demo in Apple demo history, Steve Jobs introduced FaceTime video calling for Mac by sitting down at an onstage Mac and calling Phil Schiller on his iPhone 4. That was it. The software makes calls between Macs, iPhones and iPod Touches, and the beta is available for download today. No mention of how this product will impact and/or ultimately eclipse iChat–or when iPads might get cameras, so they can use use FaceTime, too.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101020/facetime-for-mac/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20100902/facebook-blocked-api-access-to-ping-after-failure-to-strike-agreement-so-apple-removed-feature-after-launch/ http://allthingsd.com/20100902/facebook-blocked-api-access-to-ping-after-failure-to-strike-agreement-so-apple-removed-feature-after-launch/#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:17:34 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=33354

It’s not as mysterious as it seems, this mini-controversy about finding friends on Facebook for Apple’s new social music network.

According to sources familiar with Facebook’s platform, the social networking giant essentially denied Apple’s Ping access to application programming interfaces that would allow it to search for an iTunes user’s friends on Facebook who also had signed up for Ping.

Normally, this API access is open and does not require permission.

That is, unless some entity wants to access it a lot. In that case, Facebook claims it requires an agreement for reasons primarily centered on protection of Facebook user data and, of course, infrastructure impact.

With 160 million iTunes users, say sources with knowledge of the Facebook platform, that could potentially mean a lot of impact.

Others disagree, noting the load would be insignificant and it is just used by Facebook to gain leverage from those wanting to access its powerful platform.

That was one of the bones of contention in the talks that sources said Apple (AAPL) and Facebook conducted. The negotiations about an agreement went awry and the pair could not come to terms.

In fact, at the launch event in San Francisco yesterday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs complained to me about what he called “onerous terms” that Facebook had demanded for the friends connection and suggested using search or email to add friends to Ping.

But, at the same event another exec, Worldwide Product Marketing SVP Phil Schiller, said to me in a video interview that one could use Facebook to find friends on Ping.

In fact, Apple still included the ability to find Facebook friends in its demo onstage and also after it made iTunes 10 available for download.

It also currently claims this on its Ping page: “Find even more music fans with a quick search, by sending email invites, or by connecting to your Facebook account.”

But you can’t actually do that on Ping right now.

Sources said Apple went ahead with a plan to access the Facebook APIs freely, but Facebook blocked it since it violated its terms of service.

When that happened, it seems Apple pulled the plug on the connection with Facebook friends.

But maybe not for long. Sources also said the companies were still in discussions about putting the more robust Facebook Connect feature in Ping.

Because, in the end, it is all about connection.

BoomTown has requests into both Facebook and Apple for a comment.

Earlier today, Facebook said:

“Facebook believes in connecting people with their interests and we’ve partnered with innovative developers around the world who share this vision. Facebook and Apple have cooperated successfully in the past to offer people great social experiences and we look forward to doing so in the future.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100902/facebook-blocked-api-access-to-ping-after-failure-to-strike-agreement-so-apple-removed-feature-after-launch/feed/ 36