Sources who declined to be named because they are forbidden to talk publicly about Apple’s plans tell AllThingsD that the company has been “borrowing” engineers from the OS X 10.9 team as part of an effort to double down on iOS 7. “Yes, yes — it’s essentially a repeat of the iPhone/Leopard scenario,” one source said, referring to Apple’s 2007 decision to pull engineers from OS X 10.5 to work on iPhone. “Not as much of a fire drill, though. It will ship on time.”

News of Apple’s iOS 7 scramble was first reported by Daring Fireball last month, and reiterated today by Bloomberg.

So what is it about iOS 7 that has caused Apple to rally additional engineering resources? It’s a pretty big update. With SVP of Industrial Design Jony Ive now oveerseeing interface design, sources say Apple has adopted a unified approach to software and hardware design. And evidently the spartan, elegant aesthetic that Ive has developed around Apple’s hardware is now being brought to bear on its software, as well. Last week, 9to5Mac’s Mark Gurman reported that iOS 7 would feature a “flat” design that favors simplicity over flash. I’ve heard similar descriptions from sources who say iOS 7 is iOS “de-glitzed.”

“Put it this way,” said one source who has been briefed on iOS. “You know Game Center’s green felt craps table? Well, goodbye, Circus Circus.”

Not a surprise, really. With Scott Forstall — an advocate for flashy, skeuomorphic design and its stitched-leather and faux-wood-grain flourishes — now gone from Apple, and Ive in an expanded role, the current and former Apple employees I’ve spoken to say iOS 7 was destined for a new coat of paint. As one said, “Sounds like a much-needed ‘de-Forstallization.’”

Which is not to say that the design of iOS 7 is entirely about removing skeuomorphic gloss. Fact is, Apple hasn’t much changed the operating system’s look since the iPhone was introduced in 2007. If the company has good ideas for design tweaks, it’s about time it implemented them. With new mobile operating systems like BlackBerry 10 and Windows Phone proving that there’s plenty of room left for innovation in the market, Apple can ill afford even the risk of the perception that iOS might be getting dusty.

Apple’s challenge, then, is to overhaul the look and feel of the OS while retaining the intuitiveness that has made it so popular. “The key question here is whether those changes deliver on the core Apple promise of improving customers’ ability to make productive use of the device and deliver a clearly superior experience,” Forrester analyst Charles Golvin told AllThingsD. “Presumably they don’t need the flashy stuff to realize that vision.”

But four days later, the reality is setting in that downloading Google Maps won’t result in the same experience as before — that’s because Google Maps is not the iPhone’s default maps program. Apple continues to hold that coveted position.

The arrival of the app on Wednesday was first confirmed by AllThingsD.

Understandably, this disparity could lead to some consumer confusion.

Google Maps was the default application since the smartphone first launched, and remained so until it was kicked off in September as part of the iOS 6 software update.

Now, as users download Google’s map application, they may think that it should function just like before.

After reading reviews in the App Store, the biggest complaint so far has been that contacts are no longer accessible inside of Google Maps.

“Why can’t I access the contacts on my iPhone,” one user asked. “I checked the privacy menu in settings on the phone and maps hasn’t even tried to access them. All of the new features and it won’t let me get directions to my contacts!!” Another user, who goes by the name of Memphis-Drew, wrote: “Since this isn’t a native app anymore, it doesn’t feel fluid. Expected more from Google.”

Overall, Google gets four-plus stars based on nearly 20,000 ratings, so the complaints are relatively minor.

It’s unclear if Google could have included access to the contact list, or if that’s a function that is blocked by Apple, but it should be noted that some of these issues are simply out of Google’s control.

For me, what’s noticeable is how clumsy it is when navigating to an address saved in my calendar. A one-step process has turned into four: To find directions to your next appointment, you must copy the address from the calendar, close the app, open Google maps and paste the address into the search bar. That’s not something I should attempt while driving.

Following the release of Apple Maps, Apple CEO Tim Cook formally apologized to users for MappleGate, and, since then, both mobile software head Scott Forstall and maps manager Rich Williamson have been ousted.

But hoping that Google Maps will be more tightly integrated into some of the operating system’s core activities, like it once was, seems like a stretch for a company that was clearly trying to decrease its dependence on Google with the launch of its own map app.

Is Cook willing to go the extra mile to ensure the user’s happiness by at least giving the consumer a choice of which map it wants to use?

Another thing that consumers will likely notice is that Apple Maps will continue to appear in a number of navigation-heavy applications, like HotelTonight, Yelp or Redfin, just to name a few. In those cases, for directions to a hotel, a restaurant or an open house, the easiest map to use is the one embedded in the application — and by default, that’s Apple Maps.

However, that could be changing soon.

Perhaps as important as the app itself, Google also released a software development kit this week, allowing other app makers to build Google Maps into their programs. Developers interested in doing so can register to get access to the APIs to easily enable their users to search and get directions using Google Maps.

But for now consumers will end up using Apple Maps for a lot of activities, especially if patience is a factor.

That’s especially true since Apple-built applications cannot be deleted from the phone’s operating system. For very diligent people, I found this hack that allows users to hide unwanted Apple applications without jailbreaking your phone. (Note: I did not attempt this myself!) Alternatively, you can also move the app into a folder and bring the Google Maps app to your homepage to make jumping between things easier. That’s pretty simple.

Regardless of your own personal preference, one thing I did learn from the reading dozens of the reviews in the App Store is that a lot of people didn’t find Apple’s mapping application so horrible to begin with. Now that Google is back, they even appreciate some of the new features brought to the table by Apple. As one reviewer said about Google Maps, “All hype, little substance.”

Bob Mansfield, Apple’s former senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, is now back at the company after what may be one of Silicon Valley’s briefest retirements.

The longtime company exec returned fully to Apple this week following a rare executive shake-up that saw the departure of Scott Forstall, one of the most visible faces of Apple since Steve Jobs’s death last year, and head of its mobile iOS business. In the wake of that jarring departure: Mansfield in a brand-new position as senior vice president of Technologies.

So, what happened? According to a central theory advanced by people who know Apple well: Forstall’s ouster.

As you may recall, Mansfield retired from Apple in June, only to abruptly return to the company in August. This was great news for Apple, as Mansfield, a 13-year company veteran, oversaw the engineering of every major piece of hardware Apple has rolled out in the past decade, and is very highly regarded within the company.

But it was out of character for the tech giant — which meticulously plans executive transitions like these — to announce a retirement, only to withdraw it eight weeks later.

Sources said that Mansfield was actually very serious about retiring, which makes his quick return to Apple all the more curious.

But I’m told he changed his mind after Cook made him “an offer he could not refuse,” including a massive cash and stock pay package. Even then, Mansfield only agreed to come back as an adviser.

At the time, Apple would say only that Mansfield had returned to oversee the development of unspecified “future products.” But it never said for how long, or exactly what he would be working on.

Some sources said he’d really just come back to help Apple CEO Tim Cook with the hardware engineering team’s transition to new leadership under Dan Riccio, which wasn’t going as well as expected.

Then, following Forstall’s ouster, Cook suddenly announced that Mansfield has agreed to stay with the company in his new position for another two years.

As one source close to the company told AllThingsD, “The timing of Bob’s return is not coincidental.”

To begin with, Mansfield was not a fan of Forstall’s confrontational management style, and sources said he generally tried to avoid the iOS exec. Indeed, Bloomberg reported last year that Mansfield would meet with Forstall only if Cook were present to mediate. I’ve heard many similar stories.

“It wasn’t a him-or-me situation,” one source said of Mansfield’s return and Forstall’s departure. “But, put it this way, I think Bob was much more willing to commit to two more years once he knew Scott was on his way out.”

What Mansfield will now do at the new Technologies unit is to be determined. In a note to Apple employees from Cook, the division will combine all of the company’s wireless teams in one organization, “including semiconductor teams, who have some very ambitious plans.”

Just how ambitious remains to be seen.

The markets, newly reopened after Hurricane Sandy closed them for two days, are finally having their say about the recent management overhaul at Apple, and the reaction is unsettled, to say the least.

Shares of Apple fell more than 2.5 percent, to $587.70, in early trading Wednesday morning, as investors responded to the departures of iOS chief Scott Forstall and retail head John Browett. An understandable response to one of the biggest shake-ups Apple has seen since the ouster of former CEO Gil Amelio in 1997. But likely a short-lived one. By and large, analysts remain confident of Apple’s prospects going forward. Said the ISI Group’s Brian Marshall, “We believe if the company can be successful without Steve Jobs, it can be successful without Scott Forstall.”

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster took a similarly positive view, noting that Monday’s announcement is as much about who’s staying as who’s leaving.

“We believe that yesterday’s announcement all but confirmed that (Jonathan) Ive will be with the company for the foreseeable future, putting to rest a recurring investor concern of an Apple without Ive,” he said. “This, combined with Tim Cook’s nine years remaining on his contract with Apple, suggests the two most critical management figures will be in place for the longer term. We think that despite the departure of Forstall who ran iOS development, iOS’s future is in good hands.”

Back in September, Apple said an iTunes overhaul would be out in October. Now it’s pushing that back a month.

Here’s spokesman Tom Neumayr’s take: “The new iTunes is taking longer than expected and we wanted to take a little extra time to get it right. We look forward to releasing this new version of iTunes with its dramatically simpler and cleaner interface and seamless integration with iCloud before the end of November.”

The obvious question is whether the delay is related to the company’s management changes, including the ouster of top executive Scott Forstall. Neumayr declined to answer that one. But it’s worth pointing out that Forstall wasn’t in charge of iTunes — it falls under media boss Eddy Cue.

On the other hand, Apple’s last major software refresh led to a public apology from Tim Cook. So it’s reasonable to guess that Apple would take extra care to get this one into shape.

Here’s what the new software is supposed to include:

• Better layout
• Improved performance
• Easier playlist creation
• Full-library search
• Improved iCloud integration
• A completely redesigned mini-player
• A full-window interface on your Mac or PC, a new library view and an expandable album view

No word on whether the software will require less storage and computing power on Apple’s devices, which has been a longtime user complaint.

This was better than the Giants winning the World Series. People are really excited.

– A senior Apple employee, who asked not to be named, describing the mood at the company upon the news of Scott Forstall’s departure

Apple’s Monday afternoon management shake-up was a historic one, the largest the company has seen since the ouster of former CEO Gil Amelio in 1997.

And while details of the ousters of Scott Forstall and John Browett — the guy who oversaw Apple’s iOS operating system and the new hire who ran its retail stores, respectively — are certainly intriguing, they’re a sideshow to the bigger story here: The clear ascendancy of design chief Jony Ive.

That’s because on Monday Ive was given a role that no executive other than co-founder Steve Jobs has ever held before — oversight of all Apple product design.

“Jony Ive will provide leadership and direction for Human Interface (HI) across the company in addition to his role as the leader of Industrial Design,” Apple said in a press release announcing the change. “His incredible design aesthetic has been the driving force behind the look and feel of Apple’s products for more than a decade.”

That means Ive will oversee the design of Apple hardware and software both, and has been tapped as the new steward of Apple’s user experience.

It is an important recognition for Ive, a major change for Apple, and an interesting move by CEO Tim Cook in elevating the design wunderkind.

As Daring Fireball’s John Gruber writes, “I don’t think it can be overstated just how big a deal it is that he now oversees all product design, hardware and software. For the last year, outside observers have been left to wonder just where the buck stopped for UI design at post-Jobs Apple. That question has now been answered: Jony Ive.”

Indeed, the buck has finally stopped, with Cook trying to put an end to what had become internecine executive battles within Apple.

While perhaps a good thing, it also puts a lot of pressure on the elegant Ive, who will now be the integrator of Apple’s two sides, and the center of its future direction.

He’s an obvious choice, in many ways, as the architect — with Jobs — of Apple’s well-known high-toned yet minimalist design.

One area he clashed with Forstall on, in fact, was in this arena. Forstall, for example, favored skeuomorphic design — adding real-to-life elements in software — while Ive reportedly deplored it (as did many).

Now Ive will be free to rid Apple software of it and, really, to do anything he likes.

What with Hurricane Sandy here in the East and the management upheaval swirling around Apple in the West — complete with the ouster of its mobile software head Scott Forstall and retail chief John Browett — excuse us for taking so long to get up this latest adorkable video from John Elerick.

It came out earlier today and is the second of the “Banned” mockumentaries, which spoof the slick Apple commercials using top execs chattering on about its products.

Also below is one Conan O’Brien’s TeamCoco just put out that will air tonight about the many sizes of the iPad mini.

Forstall was one of those Apple execs, though he was not featured in these videos. But he was ousted earlier today from the tech giant for a range of problems, including refusing to sign a company apology letter about how bad the new mapping software that Apple recently released to replace Google’s maps was.

Here’s the new one on the recently released iPad mini and the first on the iPhone 5, as well as the TemCoco one:

Apple officially released its new mobile mapping software in September. Users quickly complained about data inaccuracies and other bugs. Mr. Forstall argued that the company could address the outcry without apologizing as Apple had done when it shipped iPhones with faulty antennas a few years ago, one of these people said. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook and others disagreed, these people said. Mr. Cook signed his name to the apology instead.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Some news cannot wait, of course, and sources at Apple said the company had planned to release news of the sudden exit of Scott Forstall, one of its major execs, this afternoon.

Maybe so, but it’s also unusual timing. Due to Hurricane Sandy — which was poised to hit landfall in central New Jersey just as Apple made its announcement about the iOS mobile software chief’s leaving, along with that of Apple Store retail head John Browett — Wall Street reaction to what appears to be a major management move by CEO Tim Cook will not take place until at least Wednesday.

That’s because the massive storm has led to the closure of the stock markets today and tomorrow, leaving investors to mull on the major reorganization without a lot of ability to react.

Apple shares closed at $604 on Friday, up about 49 percent over the past year. Its stock had declined slightly recently, after last week’s quarterly earnings did not meet the enormous profit expectations of Wall Street. Still, Apple had — for anyone else — a blockbuster fourth quarter.

The tech leader reported $8.67 per share of profit on sales of $35.97 billion.

How the departure of Forstall and, to a much lesser extent, Browett (who has been a largely unpopular exec since he was hired a year ago), will be greeted by shareholders when markets open should be interesting.

On one hand, Forstall has been a major exec at the company for a very long time, in charge of key areas of success for Apple, including the software for its hugely popular iPhone and iPad. Forstall has even been called CEO-in-waiting in some media accounts.

That said, many sources report that he has wrangled with other top execs, including Cook, and he has been known as someone with a doesn’t-play-well-with-others personality. One source told me today that Forstall had made numerous “open challenges” to the Apple leader over the last year.

While that’s not necessarily a negative at Apple — the late CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs was also someone who did not suffer fools or even simple mistakes among trusted staff — the recent troubles as it replaced Google’s mapping software with its own had clearly tarnished Forstall’s image.

In addition, while Apple does great at hardware, as well hardware/software integration, it has often fallen down in other key software efforts, such as MobileMe, iTunes and more.

This is not all Forstall’s fault, of course, but his sudden departure — which will take place officially next year — means that Cook is consolidating control over the top management.

Thus, the did-he-jump-or-was-he-pushed meme will doubtlessly increase over the next few days. Pushed seems to be the consensus so far.

But here’s a little insight into Apple’s often opaque culture to better discern management Kremlinology there: iTunes is still advertising competitors’ maps instead of its own failed product, and Forstall got no stage time at Apple iPad mini event last week.

Clearly, the removal of Browett, who had made a series of moves that were negatively greeted by Apple’s retail unit, will make Cook look decisive, especially since he had hired him. But whether that extends to how the influential Forstall was dispatched — and it looks like he was — will be another story to grok for Wall Street.

Big management shifts at Apple are now taking place.

Scott Forstall, the man in charge of its iOS mobile software efforts and a major and longtime executive at the tech giant, is leaving next year and will remain an adviser to CEO Tim Cook until then.

In addition, new retail head John Browett is headed out the door.

As part of the move, Apple noted that four key execs — Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi — would “add responsibilities to their roles.”

Ive gets “Human Interface”; Cue will take over Maps and Siri voice recognition responsibilities; Mansfield will run a new unit called Technologies, “which combines all of Apple’s wireless teams across the company in one organization”; and Federighi gets the big job of iOS and OS X.

More to come on what happened, but Forstall’s departure is very big news and a drastic move for such an important player in the tech space.

He had big fans and also many detractors for his sharp-edged personality, as well as what some described as exhibiting “growing open challenges” to Cook himself. Forstall had previously been called “CEO-in-waiting” in one media account in Fortune.

In addition, numerous sources noted persistent tension between Forstall and several other key execs, especially the powerful design chief Ive.

Veiled internal politics at Apple aside, Forstall has been a key part of Apple’s success over the last decade, especially in the development iPad and the iPhone.

Recently, there has been some level of ire at Apple over the troubled rollout of its own mapping software and the replacement of Google’s popular service, which was Forstall’s responsibility. (No, this move does not mean everyone gets Google mapping back, as one person asked me.)

Browett’s leaving is a little less of a surprise. Since he got the job, he has alienated many within the highly successful retail organization at Apple, many sources said.

His departure comes less than one year after the former Dixons CEO was hired by Apple to succeed Ron Johnson, who left for J.C. Penney in November 2011. Recently he’s been criticized by some Apple Store employees for unfriendly policy changes aimed at increasing Apple’s retail profit margins.

More to come, obvi, but here is the official press release from Apple, which it put out with the most understated title of all time:

Apple Announces Changes to Increase Collaboration Across Hardware, Software & Services

Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi Add Responsibilities to Their Roles

CUPERTINO, California — October 29, 2012 — Apple® today announced executive management changes that will encourage even more collaboration between the Company’s world-class hardware, software and services teams. As part of these changes, Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi will add more responsibilities to their roles. Apple also announced that Scott Forstall will be leaving Apple next year and will serve as an advisor to CEO Tim Cook in the interim.

“We are in one of the most prolific periods of innovation and new products in Apple’s history,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The amazing products that we’ve introduced in September and October, iPhone 5, iOS 6, iPad mini, iPad, iMac, MacBook Pro, iPod touch, iPod nano and many of our applications, could only have been created at Apple and are the direct result of our relentless focus on tightly integrating world-class hardware, software and services.”

Jony Ive will provide leadership and direction for Human Interface (HI) across the company in addition to his role as the leader of Industrial Design. His incredible design aesthetic has been the driving force behind the look and feel of Apple’s products for more than a decade.

Eddy Cue will take on the additional responsibility of Siri® and Maps, placing all of our online services in one group. This organization has overseen major successes such as the iTunes Store®, the App Store℠, the iBookstore℠ and iCloud®. This group has an excellent track record of building and strengthening Apple’s online services to meet and exceed the high expectations of our customers.

Craig Federighi will lead both iOS and OS X®. Apple has the most advanced mobile and desktop operating systems, and this move brings together the OS teams to make it even easier to deliver the best technology and user experience innovations to both platforms.

Bob Mansfield will lead a new group, Technologies, which combines all of Apple’s wireless teams across the company in one organization, fostering innovation in this area at an even higher level. This organization will also include the semiconductor teams, who have ambitious plans for the future.

Additionally, John Browett is leaving Apple. A search for a new head of Retail is underway and in the interim, the Retail team will report directly to Tim Cook. Apple’s Retail organization has an incredibly strong network of leaders at the store and regional level who will continue the excellent work that has been done over the past decade to revolutionize retailing with unique, innovative services for customers.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

But let’s be clear. There has also been a lot of downtime. As a result, there has been quite an opportunity for those in the court to familiarize themselves with both their surroundings and the main voices in the trial.

The Setting
All the action is taking place on the top floor of the Robert Peckham Federal Building and Courthouse, a drab five-story building in downtown San Jose.

Though known as the “ceremonial courtroom,” and larger than Judge Lucy Koh’s normal digs, Courtroom 5080 is nothing special. It’s filled with wood and paneling in various shades of brown, along with well-worn carpeting, also of the brown persuasion. Another sign of its age — aside from the decor — is the broken microphone that prevented the judge from easily conferring with lawyers outside the jury’s earshot.

Just beyond the area for the court reporter and other of Koh’s staff sit the large wood tables so packed with lawyers that the opposing sides are practically touching one another. At one point in the trial, there weren’t enough flash drives for both sides to have one. Judge Koh suggested the two sides could push their tables together and share. Apple lawyer Bill Lee said it was fine to leave the drive on Samsung’s table.

“I think we are close enough already,” Lee said.

Behind the main tables are a second row of smaller metal tables for a second group of lawyers. Given the fact that lawyers still outnumber available chairs, it is common to see a changing of the guard as one witness steps down and another takes the stand. For football fans, it looks kind of like when the offense leaves the field and the kicking team comes on after a failed third-down conversion.

The Judge
The most prominent figure in the case is Lucy Koh, the federal judge presiding over the case. A 2010 appointee of President Obama, Koh is a former intellectual property attorney herself, and knows all the tricks. She’s a stickler for deadlines and the clock, putting both sides on a tight schedule, with just 25 hours each to make their case to the jury.

Throughout the trial, Koh has shown an incredible attention to detail, keeping detailed notes on exactly which promises are made and which items are due when. Koh has also displayed remarkable recall, frequently proving to have a better memory of witness testimony than any of the lawyers.

Patient only to a point, Koh has lost her cool on a number of occasions, most often due to a barrage of filings from one side or the other.

The first notable outburst came on the opening day of the case, as a Samsung lawyer literally begged Koh to allow in some late-disclosed evidence relating to phones that Samsung had in development before the iPhone. After his begging failed to elciit a reversal, Quinn made a further motion for reconsideration.

“You’ve made your record for appeal,” Koh said. “Don’t make me sanction you, please.”

Later that morning, Samsung issued a press release commenting on some of the information that Koh had excluded, suggesting that “fundamental fairness requires that the jury decide the case based on all the evidence.” That infuriated Koh, who demanded to know who authorized the release.

There were other temper flares from Koh. Most famously, she asked Apple’s lawyers if they were smoking crack when they planned a long list of witnesses for the short amount of trial time they had remaining. Koh also lashed out at Samsung for poor management of their time, saying it was the company’s own choice to use more than half its time cross-examining Apple witnesses rather than building its own case.

But Koh has also been the voice of reason at times, urging both sides to either narrow their case or else to consider settling.

“I see risk here for both sides if we go to a verdict,” Koh said late in the trial.

The Many Lawyers
While in-house lawyers are present for both companies, all the speaking parts are handled by the companies’ outside lawyers. And, man, are there a lot of them. Apple is represented by two firms — Morrison Foerster and WilmerHale. Samsung is represented by Quinn Emanuel.

While there are dozens of lawyers of record for each side, most of the arguing and questioning of witnesses is handled by just a couple of attorneys per side.

For Apple, the lead counsel is Harold McElhinny, who projects a balance of folksy charm and technical sophistication. Among his trial credits is leading a case where a jury found Samsung guilty of willfully infringing a Pioneer patent, awarding the company more than $59 million in damages. During the earlier part of his career, McElhinny was also part of a team that represented Fujitsu in a major copyright case with IBM.

On some of the patent issues, Bill Lee of WilmerHale is on point.

Bill Lee

The middle-aged, mild-mannered Bostoner is the one who replied that he was not using crack, when Koh suggested Apple’s lawyers were high if they thought they could call all of their witnesses in the time they had remaining.

Rachel Krevans brings two decades of patent knowledge to her questions, able to make the most of just a few minutes of questioning of a witness.

Samsung is most often represented by Quinn Emanuel partner Charles Verhoeven, a fast-paced trial lawyer.

Hard-charging Tom Quinn has been heard from less often, but has had some notable clashes with Judge Koh, in some cases drawing her ire after only having spoken a handful of words.

Quinn Emanuel partner Victoria Maroulis has been the Samsung lawyer most likely to pop up when the judge needs the legal basis for a motion or other quick answer.

A dead ringer for “Lost” star Titus Welliver, salt-and-pepper-haired Kevin P.B. Johnson took a no-nonsense approach in his questioning and cross-examination of several witnesses.

Actor Titus Welliver (but it is also a darn good likeness of Samsung lawyer Kevin P.B. Johnson)

The Jury
After a full day of jury selection, seven men and three women were chosen to hear the case of Apple versus Samsung. However, on the first day of trial, one woman asked to be excused, noting that she hadn’t fully appreciated just how long things would run.

That leaves nine people to decide the multibillion-dollar case. To find infringement on any of the counts, all members of the jury must agree on that matter. It’s an eclectic group, including a 35-year hard-drive industry veteran, a bicycle-store manager and a youthful videogame enthusiast with a penchant for wearing rock-band T-shirts.

The Star Witnesses
Apple’s case began with a bang, as iOS chief Scott Forstall, top marketing exec Phil Schiller and designer Christopher Stringer all told tales of the iPhone’s early days, or “project purple,” as it was initially known. Stringer even took the jury inside Apple’s design studio, explaining the kitchen table around which Apple designs virtually all of its products.

Several Samsung executives also testified, though none really spilled any secrets or told any captivating stories. The most impressive was Jeeyuen Wang, a young woman on Samsung’s design team, who told of the long hours she spent creating icons for the Galaxy, shortly after giving birth.

“I slept perhaps two hours or three hours a night,” she said. “That was about it.”

Wang recalled how she couldn’t breastfeed regularly because of the heavy workload.

“Those were difficult times,” she said.

The Experts
Most of both sides’ cases consisted of expert testimony. For every patent at issue, it seemed, there was another highly paid professional or academic to take the stand. Most had racked up hundreds of hours in bills, with rates ranging from a low of $250 per hour to a high of $1,000 an hour.

“I’d estimate that Apple and Samsung collectively spent more on experts than is normally spent on lawyers in the average mid-sized patent case,” said Santa Clara University Professor Brian J. Love.

The verdict hinges, in significant part, on which set of experts the jury finds most credible.

The Supporting Cast
Judge Koh is assisted by a small “ragtag” bunch — her words. They include her usual staff, as well as a few borrowed hands. Despite the help, and long, long hours, Koh has frequently complained that Apple and Samsung are drowning the staff in paperwork.

Most frequently heard from among the staff has been the court reporter, Lee-Anne Shortridge. Despite the barrage of technical jargon and acronym soup, not to mention some fast talkers and soft speakers, only a few times a day does Shortridge have to ask a witness to repeat an answer.

Each day, there is room in the courtroom about two dozen press and a roughly similar number of members of the public. There is also an overflow room for additional reporters and trial watchers. Two different courtrooms, also on the fifth floor, have alternately served as the overflow room.

The “public” section actually consists of rather few ordinary Janes and Joes. Many of the seats each day are taken up by lawyers for other tech companies with peripheral ties to the case, including companies such as Research In Motion and Intel, that have been seeking to avoid having their secrets spilled.

One of the few regulars not representing any outside entity is Deborah Burns, a recent law school grad and self-professed Silicon Valley bystander. Arriving early each day to get a seat, Burns said that the trial is giving her a chance to view theory turned into reality.

“Where else would you better see what you’ve studied?” she said.

The press section is composed largely of a group of regulars who have been there throughout the trial, including reporters from Forbes, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, the San Jose Mercury News, CNET, several legal publications, and assorted others, along with — of course, AllThingsD.

Another seat is reserved for the courtroom sketch artist, whose images have been carried by Reuters. Her work is especially valuable in federal court, where cameras are generally not allowed. Both photography and audio recording are verboten in the San Jose courthouse.

Like all good Broadway shows, the current production of Apple versus. Samsung must come to an end. Final arguments over jury instructions are scheduled for Monday, with closing arguments slated for Tuesday. But if you missed this trial, there are dozens of similar cases winding their way through court dockets across the globe. Plus, regardless of which way the jury goes, there’s a good chance that some of the same players will reprise their roles in front of an appeals court.

Over the course of the trial, Apple — a company infamous for its corporate culture of secrecy and well-guarded product-development process — was forced to lay bare many internal details that until now have never seen the light of day.

For Apple enthusiasts and those curious about what happens behind Apple’s closed doors, it’s an information goldmine. Here are the five most interesting thing we took away from Week One:

Eddy Cue Liked the Idea of a Seven-Inch iPad
No one was a bigger public naysayer of Apple producing a smaller version of its iPad than Apple’s former CEO, Steve Jobs. He famously railed against the idea on a conference call in 2010: “It’s because we think the screen is too small to express the software,” Jobs said.

Yet, on Friday, an unearthed internal Apple email revealed a doozy: Even some of Apple’s top brass, like Senior Vice President of Internet and Software Services Eddy Cue, thought it was an area ripe for Apple’s taking.

“I believe there will be a 7-inch market and we should do one,” Cue wrote, going on to state that the now deceased Jobs even “seemed very receptive” after Cue mentioned it to Jobs several times.

Project Purple, or How the iPhone Came To Be
When Jobs charged SVP Scott Forstall with the task of creating the first iPhone in 2004, it was a gargantuan task, only made more difficult by the level of secrecy imposed on Forstall and his team. Jobs gave Forstall carte blanche to recruit any member of Apple’s engineering staff for Project Purple, as it was known. However, Forstall could tell them virtually nothing about the project, save for the fact that they’d be giving up nights and weekends for the next few years.

The team secured one of Apple’s buildings, and took over an entire floor. Forstall’s team got high-level badge access, though getting through to the project area sometimes required passing through five or six sets of locked doors.

Apple Designs Its Products at a Kitchen Table

Apple’s dream team of designers isn’t large. In fact, the company’s entire product portfolio stems from a group of 15 or 16 people, according to veteran Apple industrial designer Chris Stringer, all of whom convene around a kitchen table to discuss the exhaustive, laborious design process behind each Apple device.

“We’ll sit there with our sketch books and trade ideas,” Stringer testified. “That’s where the really hard, brutal, honest criticism comes in.”

Even Steve Jobs Doubted the iPhone at Times

As ubiquitous and popular as the iPhone is today, throughout the three-year process of designing, testing and building the phone, even Steve Jobs had doubts it would ever see the light of day.

“Smartphones existed, but they were more like little computers,” designer Stringer testified. “We were doing something unprecedented.”

Apple’s Insane Marketing Budget for the iPhone and iPad
When SVP of Marketing Phil Schiller took the stand, the exec shed light on the long road filled with doubt that it took to produce the iPhone and the iPad. But when those in the company realized they had nailed it, Apple put its all into pushing the products, with hundreds of millions in ad spending.

From the period where the first iPhone was released in 2007 until the end of fiscal year 2011, Apple spent more than $1.1 billion on marketing its iPhone and iPad devices worldwide. It seemed like a gamble. But with the two devices being the company’s fastest-selling products ever, it certainly looks to have worked out well for Apple.

Check out the list of links below to see all the other noteworthy moments that went down. And, of course, stay with us as we continue covering the trial on-site from San Jose this week.

Apple versus Samsung Full Coverage

“I believe there will be a 7-inch market and we should do one,” Cue wrote in the email, which forwarded an article written by a reporter that switched from the iPad to a 7-inch Samsung tablet. “I tend to agree with many of the comments below,” Cue wrote.

The email was introduced Friday during Samsung’s cross-examination of iOS chief Scott Forstall, who was among the recipients of Cue’s email. Forstall testified that Cue also used a 7-inch Galaxy Tab at some point.

Apple’s interest in a 7-inch tablet is noteworthy since the company is widely believed to be considering introducing such a product to complement its larger screen iPad. Analysts have said that they believe Apple has lined up supply for the screens needed to produce such a device.

Late Apple CEO Steve Jobs was an outspoken critic of such tablets, saying that one would only be practical if it came with sandpaper to make people’s fingers smaller.

Here’s an image of Cue’s e-mail, which was entered into evidence on Friday:

Apple versus Samsung Full Coverage

Adam Tow / AllThingsD.com

Forstall said that late Apple chief Steve Jobs put Forstall in charge of building all of the software for the phone. But he told Forstall that he could not hire anyone from outside the company. And, of course, Apple had never built a phone.

“This was a real challenge,” Forstall testified.

And, while he could recruit anyone from inside Apple he wanted, he couldn’t tell them the project they would be working on or even who they would report to. Forstall testified that his pitch was to find “superstars” from throughout Apple.

“We’re starting another project,” he would tell those he brought into his office. “It’s so secret I cannot tell you what the project is.”

Rather than say they needed to take his offer, Forstall would tell them they would probably have a great career even if they turned him down.

Plus, he promised little but long hours if they accepted the offer.

“You are going to have to give up nights and weekends probably for a couple years,” he said.

Some sales pitch. That said, Forstall said he managed to get some amazingly talented people.

The team took one of Apple’s Cupertino buildings and locked it down. It started with a single floor with badge readers and cameras. In some cases, even workers on the team would have to show their badges five or six times.

The goal was to create a phone that the Apple employees themselves wanted to carry, Forstall said.

“We wanted something that was a great phone,” he said. “We wanted to do it from whole cloth.”

Forstall said that the company also wanted a means to deliver the true Internet, unlike current phone browsers of the time, which used a technology called WAP.

“It really gave you this baby Web, this dumbed-down Web,” Forstall said.

Earlier on Friday, Apple’s Phil Schiller talked about the early days of the iPhone and iPad as well as the considerable ad budget that the company used to help make the products household names.

And, as always, here’s our cheat sheet to the case.

Update, 1:39 p.m.: Forstall talked about some of the early work on the iPhone — in particular, pinch and zoom and scrolling, which is central to one of the patents at issue.

Now, Samsung lawyer Kevin Johnson is starting his cross-examination.

1:46 p.m.: Aiming to show that Apple got inspiration from Samsung while developing the iPhone, Johnson introduces a 2005 email from Steve Jobs making reference to a Samsung phone with a scroll wheel-like interface and asking for thoughts from Jony Ive and others.

Samsung is also showing other competitive analysis from the iPhone team, including a “mini-teardown” of one of Samsung’s Galaxy S phones.

Johnson is also using this to point out some of the differences between Samsung’s phones and the iPhone, such as Android, the Swype keyboard, TouchWiz user interface.

1:57 p.m.: Asked if Apple ever had a 7-inch Galaxy Tab tablet in its possession, Forstall said “I do know that Eddy Cue once used it for a little while.”

Apple versus Samsung Full Coverage

At times, the lawyers in the case are playing to the judge, while at other times they are trying to score points with the press and the so-called “court of public opinion.” And, since the attorneys arguing the case are from outside law firms, sometimes they have to do things just to look good for their clients — Apple and Samsung.

Beyond that, both sides are also preparing for another audience — the appeals court. Whichever side loses, and perhaps both companies, will inevitably appeal to a higher court. Indeed, among the many lawyers in court, each side likely has at least one whose sole job it is to take notes about goings-on that could lay the groundwork for appeal, something known in legal speak as “reversible error.”

Samsung has been the most upset by Judge Lucy Koh’s rulings, arguing that the jury is not getting to hear key evidence both that Apple was influenced by Sony and that Samsung had its own large-screen touch devices in the works before the iPhone debuted.

Lawyers for Samsung have objected, made motions for reconsideration and, at one point, literally begged the court to change its mind.

While most appeals are handled once the case is wrapped up, certain kinds of appeals can be taken up even while the jury is still hearing arguments. If one side feels it has been deeply and clearly wronged, it can make an emergency appeal to a higher court. As disappointed as it has been with some of the decisions in the case, even Samsung hasn’t taken that step. Of course, the trial is only two days in.

Samsung’s lawyers have also been laying the groundwork for the inevitable post-trial appeal, should it lose its jury case. That fact has not gone unnoticed by anyone in court, particularly Judge Koh.

During Monday’s arguments, Koh interrupted attorney John Quinn as he was begging the court to allow evidence of touchscreen phones Samsung was developing prior to the iPhone.

“You’ve made your record for appeal,” Koh told the Samsung attorney, noting the court had already considered and reconsidered Samsung’s request. “Don’t make me sanction you, please.”

There’s a fine line for Samsung.

While it wants to create the impression that it was aggrieved at trial should it lose, it still would like to prevail in the case. And, displeased as it may be with some of Koh’s rulings, this case is slated to go on for a couple more weeks, so the lawyers also don’t want to completely alienate the judge, who will no doubt be called on to make many, many more rulings on what is and isn’t allowed to be heard by the jury.

Apple, too, might benefit from losing at least a couple significant procedural battles to help its appeals case, should the jury find for Samsung in all or part of the case.

While it is Apple that filed the initial suit in the case, Samsung is also countersuing Apple for patent infringement, alleging that the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch infringe on its patents.

The case resumes on Friday at 9 am PT, with Apple Senior VP Phil Schiller set to retake the witness stand, after testifying for only a few minutes before the court ended for the day on Tuesday. Schiller is slated to be followed by Scott Forstall, the head of iOS, the operating system that powers the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

AllThingsD will be in court, to make sure you get the latest.

Apple versus Samsung Full Coverage

In a filing on Sunday, Apple said that it planned to call as its first witnesses Samsung Telecommunications America strategy chief Justin Denison, along with early iPhone team member Chris Stringer and Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior VP of worldwide marketing. It then plans to introduce the testimony of three Samsung employees by deposition.

After that, it lists Peter Bressler, an industrial designer and an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania

Apple also said that it plans to call iOS team head Scott Forstall on Friday, which may mean he testifies before others it listed in the filing.

Apple is seeking billions of dollars in damages, alleging that a variety of Samsung’s Android-based products infringe on several patents. Samsung has countersued, saying Apple’s wireless products infringe on its patents.

Apple released a list last week of all of the witnesses it might call during the trial, as did Samsung. The trial is expected to begin Monday with jury selection, to be followed by opening arguments.

Apple versus Samsung Full Coverage

Among the host of documents that have arrived in the last 24 hours are the set of witnesses that each side says it may call in the trial.

Apple’s list includes iOS chief Scott Forstall and marketing SVP Phil Schiller, operations exec Tony Blevins, and director of patents and licensing Boris Teksler. Other notable names include Samsung’s Justin Denison and early Apple employee and designer Susan Kare.

Others named are: Ravin Balakrishnan, Peter Bressler, Richard Donaldson, computer scientist Paul Dourish, Tony Givargis, Hyong Kim, Ed Knightly, Terry Musika, Janusz Ordover, Karan Singh, Mani Srivastava, Chris Stringer, Michael Walker and Russell Winer.

Samsung, meanwhile, says it may call Hyoung Shin Park, an employee, to testify regarding the company’s design efforts, as well as a few other Samsung workers. Also listed are Apple employees Steve Sinclair and Richard Howarth, along with Intel’s Marcus Paltian and a host of expert witnesses.

That list includes: Robert John Anders, Clifton Forlines, Adam Bogue and
Benjamin Bederson.

The witness lists are just two of more than a dozen filings that have come in, documents that include all sorts of allegations back and forth as well as arguments about why various points should not be allowed to be made to the jury.

Apple is saying that Samsung was fully aware that its designs were copying Apple, while Samsung says the iPhone itself borrows from Sony’s designs.

It’s enough to keep an army of lawyers (and reporters) working through the weekend.

AllThingsD’s John Paczkowski contributed to this report.

Apple versus Samsung Full Coverage

“We’ve been working very closely with Facebook to make sure we’ve got the best mobile integration of Facebook around,” Scott Forstall, senior vice president of iOS Software, said this morning. And it is a broad integration that includes a “Like” function for the App and iTunes Stores, as well as integration with Siri, and a public API so developers can more easily integrate the feature into their apps.

But it’s not just restricted to mobile. Apple also baked Facebook integration deep into Mountain Lion for Macs, allowing users to share photos, links and comments from Mac desktop apps. New Facebook notifications populate Mountain Lion’s Notification Center, as well as the iOS notification bar.

“With deep integration throughout iOS and OS X, people will have new ways to share and connect,” a Facebook spokesman told AllThingsD in a statement. “And it becomes easier for developers to integrate Facebook into apps and games.”

The integration has been a long time coming. Rumors of Apple incorporating Facebook functionality into Apple’s mobile devices have swirled since 2010, back when Apple wanted to bake sharing into the iPhone 4. For reasons still unclear, negotiations between the companies fell apart, and the idea was shelved.

Though the two couldn’t come to terms earlier, Apple didn’t opt out of social integration entirely. The company introduced Twitter integration with the unveiling of iOS 5 last June, allowing users to tweet from various apps like Camera, Safari and the YouTube app.

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Among them were the new iPhone 4S, Siri voice commands, white iPod touches and a host of cloud services.

AllThingsD was on hand to capture everything in pictures, and we’ve compiled the gallery below from the best of those photos.

It may have been a new actor on Apple’s stage on Tuesday, but the script was familiar.

Start with some momentum statistics, show off the new software, end with a look at the new hardware and then give product specifics.

But, even as CEO Tim Cook stuck with a familiar pattern, the absence of Steve Jobs was palpable at Tuesday’s event. It’s not that Cook is not an able stage presence, which he is. But only Steve Jobs is Steve Jobs.

It also didn’t help that the iPhone Cook had to introduce looks so much like the iPhone 4 that preceded it. Cook continued the recent trend of having other Apple executives share more of the announcements and demos, enlisting Phil Schiller, Eddy Cue and Scott Forstall to share in the duties, with Schiller doing most of the iPhone 4S introduction and Forstall showing Siri, probably the biggest new thing of the day.

Though he kept the event squarely focused on Apple’s products, Cook did begin Tuesday’s event with a few personal remarks. Cook called his time at Apple the privilege of a lifetime and declared his love for the company he now leads, following Jobs’s health-related resignation earlier this year. And for what it’s worth, his performance since taking over as CEO hasn’t seemed to rattle investors significantly. On Aug. 24, when Jobs announced his resignation, Apple stock closed at $376.18; today it closed at $372.50.

Interestingly, Cook didn’t specifically reference Jobs, either to note how he was doing, send regards or update the audience on his health.

But, perhaps fittingly, there was no “One More Thing” on Tuesday.

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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.

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