9:48 Jason Snell: Hi everyone, this is Jason Snell live from the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco
9:49 Chris Breen: Hey everyone, I’m here at Macworld HQ to bring you the color commentary—in Apple’s former rainbow colors, perhaps. And here’s Jason as well.
9:49 Dan Frakes: While Chris is providing expert commentary, I’ll be taking—and attempting to answer—reader questions throughout the event. So send your (relevant) questions using the comment box.
9:50 Jason Snell: Ground rules for comments: We’ll only be posting live questions, not general comments, and ideally ones we can actually answer or comment on. 🙂
9:50 Jason Snell: We love you all, but we’ll be keeping the number of questions low so we don’t flood the event with them. Thanks.
9:50 Jason Snell: It’s a really warm day here in SF, but now we’re in air-conditioned splendor. A Beatles cover was playing earlier — NEWS ALERT — but now it’s Alanis Morrissette.
9:51 Chris Breen: I believe Alanis is with child. Could that be a clue to a spin off of an existing Apple product?
9:52 Jason Snell: This is Apple’s annual Music Event. So: the focus will be, at least in part, on new iPods for the holiday buying season.
9:52 Jason Snell: Generally these events are limited to entertainment-related topics.
9:53 Jason Snell: So: Expect iPods and maybe video related stuff (a new AppleTV?) but probably not any news about, say, Macs. (Watch them prove me wrong.)
9:53 Chris Breen: The announcement for this particular event carries the picture of a guitar. Some have suggested this hints at GarageBand. We doubt it.
9:54 Chris Breen: Apple’s stream has started—nice quality.
9:54 Jason Snell: Some questions in the comments about the iPad. I wouldn’t be surprised if we hear a little about the iPad today, maybe even a hint about when iOS 4 might reach it. And it’s a part of the iOS story regarding media.
9:56 Chris Breen: As expected, a full house. The stream shows us a room full of open laptops. So much for Apple preventing bloggers from posting from the event.
9:56 Jason Snell: GadgetDon points out it was “We Can Work It Out” playing earlier. Major tea-leaf-reading? Well, yeah, but then it was “You Learn” and now it’s “Layla.” So.. maybe not.
9:56 Jason Snell: Apple has kindly provided us real Wi-Fi today, perhaps as a reaction to the WWDC wi-fi debacle.
9:56 Dan Frakes: For those asking, you can view the event by going to http://www.apple.com/ and clicking on the live-event image in the bottom-left corner.
9:57 [Comment From Guest ] Who’s remarkably mellow Layla is this?
9:57 Jason Snell: Clapton unplugged.
9:57 Jason Snell: We’re hearing that the video steam of this event is of very high quality right now, which is sweet. Thanks for keeping us tuned in regardless—either you’re a captive audience or you like some analysis with your live video. 🙂 Either way!
9:58 [Comment From Kevin ] Again, Jack johnson acoustic. UNPLUGGED…Wireless Streaming…wireless synching
9:58 Jason Snell: Kevin, that’s the tea-leaf-reading winner so far.
9:59 [Comment From Dan Brodie ] Are you guys writing from Laptops yourselves or iPhones/iPads/iPods?
9:59 Dan Frakes: Sorry, we’re all using laptops.
10:00 Jason Snell: Jobs is here.
10:01 Jason Snell: A shout out to Woz in the front row. Jobs is obviously on the Woz Promotion Bandwagon.
10:01 Jason Snell: “Really cool stuff” this morning, starting with retail update.
10:01 Chris Breen: The stream is delayed by about 15 seconds.
10:01 Jason Snell: Three stores he’s proud of. Paris, second store in the city, near the opera house, a restored old building. Spent 18 months restoring it.
10:02 Jason Snell: Second store in China, opened in Shanghai. 40-foot high glass cylinder with staircase down
10:03 Jason Snell: And in Covent Garden, London. 2nd large store in London. Beautiful old building, restored.
10:03 Jason Snell: I think Apple Retail is the unsung hero of Apple’s comeback. Not only financially successful, but gets the Apple brand in front of people who might otherwise never have tried it out.
10:04 Jason Snell: Apple Retail: 10 countries. Over a million visitors “some days” total.
10:04 Chris Breen: All these stores are lovely—and, likely, expensive properties. Shows Apple’s confidence in a shaky economy.
10:04 [Comment From slurm ] can we turn the typing sound off?
10:04 Jason Snell: Yes, look for the little speaker graphic in the toolbar and click it.
10:05 Jason Snell: Now: let’s talk iOS.
10:05 Jason Snell: iOS: “It’s been a revolution in both touch and apps.”
10:05 Jason Snell: It’s made the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad possible.
10:05 Jason Snell: Here come the shipping stats: 120 million iOS devices shipped so far.
10:05 Chris Breen: Correction, the stream is a good minute behind the live event.
10:06 Jason Snell: 230,000 new iOS activations per day!
10:06 Jason Snell: (That’s new activations, not updates of existing products.)
10:06 Jason Snell: App store totals now 6.5B app downloads.
10:06 Jason Snell: Doing the math for us: That’s 200 apps every second.
10:07 Dan Frakes: Reminder: The Live stream is available only for iOS devices running iOS 3 or later, or Macs running Snow Leopard. And, yes, the stream is delayed, so you’ll see comments from Jason and Jon about things you haven’t yet seen in the streaming video.
10:07 Jason Snell: 25,000 iPad apps on the store now.
10:07 Jason Snell: iOS 4.1 introduced today!
10:07 Jason Snell: What’s it’s got: Lots of bux fixed, including proximity sensor, Bluetooth bugs, iPhone 3G performance bugs.
10:08 Jason Snell: Adding HDR photo support. Ability to upload HD video over Wi-Fi. TV show rentals. And Game Center for end users.
10:08 Jason Snell: Now some detail on those bullet points.
10:08 Jason Snell: High Dynamic range: Normally cameras have a specific range of light they can see, based on shutter. With HDR on the iPhone, it takes three different photos at once. One normal, one overexposed, one underexposed, and then merges them together.
10:09 Jason Snell: And the feature keeps both the normal photo and the HDR photo in the photos app, so you can compare them and use whichever you like.
10:09 Jason Snell: HDR photos can be really gorgeous—this is awesome that Apple is building it in…
10:09 Jason Snell: Will really make sunlit photos have much more detail that was previously blown out.
10:10 Jason Snell: GameCenter is “both APIs for developers, and an app called GameCenter right on the phone.”
10:10 Chris Breen: HDR a very interesting feature. One point worth noting is that while it takes photos in rapid succession, camera shake can easily muck it up. May not be wise to try this after a large latte.
10:10 Jason Snell: It’s all about multiplayer games. Allows you to challenge your friends, they can challenge you, and it’ll auto-match you “if you don’t have any friends.” You can compare scores and discover new games your friends are playing.
10:10 [Comment From Guest ] What are end users? about game center
10:10 Dan Frakes: He means people actually playing games on the iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, rather than developers.
10:11 Jason Snell: (It remains to be seen how fast the HDR photos take. If it can snap those three in quick succession, it could be very cool.)
10:11 Jason Snell: Now, Mike Capps from Epic Games is coming out to demo GameCenter-enabled games.
10:11 Jason Snell: This is their first project for iOS.
10:12 Jason Snell: Code name: Project Sword. Action-packed roleplaying game with “epic sword battles.”
10:12 Jason Snell: (Oh, some dude just dropped an enormous camera on the floor. Bang!)
10:13 Jason Snell: All the social integration in the game is done for them by GameCenter, so the game just pops up an invitation and they can quickly select their friends and play.
10:13 Chris Breen: On the way to the office, Dan and I talked about how we wouldn’t want to be in the shoes of the person responsible for the stream if something goes wrong. I think that person’s job is more than safe. The quality of the stream is lovely.
10:14 Jason Snell: Okay, so a guy just stabbed a demon in the chest with a sword live on stage. That’s multiplayer gaming on iOS 4.1.
10:15 Jason Snell: iOS 4.1 available next week for iPhone and iPod touch, free download.
10:15 Jason Snell: Now! Sneak peek at the next iOS release, 4.2.
10:15 Jason Snell: 4.2 “will come a later this year” and “it’s all about iPad.” Bringing everything to iPad. iOS 4.1 with multitasking, folders, gamecenter, all of it. Plus: wireless printing!
10:16 Jason Snell: ‘And we’re adding something called “AirPlay,” which we’ll talk about later today.’
10:16 [Comment From Guest ] Will it work with 3GS (game center)
10:16 Dan Frakes: So far, Apple is saying only “for iPhone and iPod touch”—available next week as a free download from the App Store.
10:16 Chris Breen: Wireless printing is huge! One of the reasons people have questioned the viability of the iPad as a laptop substitute.
10:16 Jason Snell: Demo in pages, you can print, see Bonjour printers (it seems), then you print, and Print Center shows up in the multitasking dock.
10:17 Jason Snell: AirPlay: “Well, you know what AirTunes is. We’re changing the name to AirPlay, because it’s not just music anymore. You’ll be able to stream video and photos as well, over Wi-Fi.”
10:17 Jason Snell: Demo of iOS 4.2 running on an iPad.
10:18 Jason Snell: iOS 4.2 on iPad looks, well, just like iOS 4 on iPhone. (That’s a good thing.)
10:18 Jason Snell: This demo is odd, since so far all this multitasking he’s doing can be done on the iPad today. Mail and Safari and iPod already do this. 🙂
10:18 Jason Snell: Okay, folders now. Works like you’d think. iPad fans will cheer. (However, the home screen is still the wide-spaced grid we’ve come to know and accept, if not love.)
10:19 Jason Snell: Steve admits, “we can’t wait to get them on our iPad.” It’s coming out in November, Steve says. Free update for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.
10:19 Jason Snell: So to sum up, Apple’s really happy with iOS. And that’s that update.
10:19 Chris Breen: Interested to see what AirPlay brings us. And what hardware it supports. Clearly you can’t use AirPort Express or Base Station as they don’t have video outs.
10:20 Jason Snell: Now, the entree for today. iPods. “This is our music event, where we unveil the cool music products we’ve got lined up for the holidays, and today’s no exception.”
10:20 Jason Snell: 275 million iPods have been sold in total.
10:20 [Comment From Guest ] is iOS 4.1 iPhone only or is the iPad included?
10:20 Dan Frakes: Guest: Steve said it’s for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch—so it’s a “unifying” release, in that all three products will be running the same version of iOS.
10:21 Jason Snell: This year “we’ve gone wild with iPods” – all new designs for every single model of iPod.
10:21 Jason Snell: The new iPod shuffle, first. Showing the evolution of the shuffle, from the gum stick to the clip (yay! best iPod ever.), to the third generation (boo! a victim of the war on buttons).
10:21 Jason Snell: And now… “people clearly missed the buttons.”
10:22 Jason Snell: “So let’s make the best of both.” New iPod shuffle HAS BUTTONS, plus VoiceOver and Playlists.
10:22 Chris Breen: Buttons? [sigh of relief] Good for Apple for relenting on this.
10:22 Jason Snell: I just clapped. Hooray.
10:22 Jason Snell: Built-in clip like the 2nd-gen shuffle too. But smaller.
10:22 Jason Snell: Basically it is a true combo of the 2G shuffle design and the 3G shuffle firmware with VoiceOver and playlists, and also added Genius mixes.
10:23 Jason Snell: (Folks, I suspect we’ll be hearing more on AirPlay in a little bit…”
10:23 Dan Frakes: Funny, Chris and I were just saying, this morning, “Hope they give us the buttons of the 2G shuffle with the voice and playlist features of the 3G.” Yay!
10:23 Jason Snell: Comes in 5 different colors: blue, green, gold, pink, silver. $49.
10:23 Jason Snell: Next up: iPod nano!
10:24 Jason Snell: 1G nano, white front. 2G nano, tall aluminum. 3rd gen fat nano gets no mention from Jobs at all. 4th gen taller screen, 5th gen even taller screen.
10:24 Dan Frakes: Correction: We meant 4.2 is for all iOS devices, not 4.1.
10:24 Jason Snell: “What can we do? We’d like to make it smaller and we’d like to make it better.” So they’ve eliminated the click wheel, which means they’ve made it touch based. And so they’ve got a multitouch iPod nano.
10:24 Jason Snell: Screen has iPhone-style icons and you can swipe through pages.
10:24 Jason Snell: “It’s very tiny.”
10:25 Jason Snell: “It’s so small, we’re able to put a clip on it too. So it’s instantly wearable.”
10:25 Jason Snell: 46% smaller, 42% lighter than the previous nano
10:25 Jason Snell: Hard volume buttons, VoiceOver support, fM radio, Nike+, pedometer, and 29 languages
10:25 Jason Snell: 24 hour audio playback battery life.
10:26 Chris Breen: Hmm, here’s another iPod that risks being put through the wash.
10:26 Jason Snell: Lots of different screens. Playlists, Artists, Genius, Radio, basically each feature is an icon like an iPhone app.
10:27 Jason Snell: Next/previous controls are on screen.
10:27 Chris Breen: So, not an iOS device, but rather the “traditional” iPod OS rejiggered for touch. This presents an issue for those who like to operate their iPod from the pocket (though it supports headphone controls).
10:27 Jason Snell: Swipe right or hold down anyplace to get back to home screen
10:28 Jason Snell: It sure looks like the iOS, Chris, but it might not be.
10:28 Jason Snell: You can even hold down and move icons to customize, and drag ’em around, like on iOS.
10:28 Jason Snell: From a user perspective it will be a familiar interface.
10:28 [Comment From danny ] can it be worn as a watch?
10:29 Chris Breen: Camera?
10:29 Jason Snell: Jobs says that a member of the board of directors will.
10:29 Jason Snell: (wear it as a watch)
10:29 Jason Snell: Lots of colors available on these.
10:30 Jason Snell: It doesn’t appear to do video, BTW. This is a music product.
10:30 Dan Frakes: To answer *many* questions, so far no mention of a camera.
10:30 Jason Snell: $149 8GB model, $179 in 16GB version.
10:30 Jason Snell: It appears to be not that much bigger than the shuffle, actually.
10:30 Jason Snell: So now, the iPod touch.
10:30 Jason Snell: iPod touch “has become the most popular ipod”
10:31 Jason Snell: It helps that the iPod touch comes without a contract, Jobs points out. And it’s become “the #1 portable game player in the world.”
10:31 [Comment From Guest ] it has a 30 pin connector?
10:31 Dan Frakes: Guest: Yes, there is a dock-connector port on the bottom.
10:31 Jason Snell: And 1.5B game & entertainment downloads just to the iPod touch.
10:32 Chris Breen: Note: I don’t know for sure that the iPod nano doesn’t have iOS under it. It could.
10:32 Jason Snell: New iPod touch: Even thinner than current model.Front-facing camera is there.
10:32 Jason Snell: New iPod touch has Retina display.
10:32 Jason Snell: 4X pixels, 326 ppi, 24-bit color LED.
10:32 Jason Snell: Apple A4 chip.
10:33 Jason Snell: 3-axis gyro.
10:33 Jason Snell: iOS 4.1 with Game Center.
10:33 Jason Snell: And front-facing camera with FaceTime.
10:33 [Comment From Joel ] Does this mean iPod nanos will be updateable like ipod touches? It could be an interesting change in the way Apple works
10:33 Dan Frakes: Joel: All iPods can be updated via iTunes, iOS or not.
10:33 Chris Breen: Some have asked how a front-facing camera and FaceTime might work with a device that doesn’t have a phone number. Likely like the 3G iPad, which has a “fake” number assigned to it when you sign up for data from AT&T.
10:33 Jason Snell: And a rear camera as well, with HD video recording.
10:34 Jason Snell: You can use iMovie with the new touch, obviously.
10:34 Jason Snell: Chris, my guess is that FaceTime will be keyed off of e-mail addresses rather than phone numbers, but who knows?
10:34 Jason Snell: 8GB $229, 32GB $299, 64GB $399
10:34 Chris Breen: Donde esta iPod classic?
10:35 Jason Snell: All-new lineup for this holiday. All available next week. Pre-order today.
10:35 Jason Snell: Is this how the iPod classic dies? By being left out of the family photo?…
10:35 Dan Frakes: Jobs said all iPods are being updated, but no mention of the iPod classic. You do the math.
10:35 Jason Snell: Now we’re going to watch some ads.
10:36 Jason Snell: A nano ad with music by Cake (“Short Skirt, Long Jacket”). A touch ad with, sadly, music I can not identify.
10:37 Jason Snell: So that’s iPods. And now, iPods are part of a great duet with iTunes.
10:37 Chris Breen: Dan and I split the difference on right/wrong iPod classic. I claimed it would die, but because nano would stream music. Dan claimed it would live because Apple wasn’t ready to offer another iPod with that kind of capacity.
10:37 Jason Snell: 11.7 billion songs d/l from iTunes.
10:37 Jason Snell: 450 million TV episodes downloaded
10:37 Jason Snell: 100 million movies downloaded
10:37 Jason Snell: 35 million books
10:38 Jason Snell: and now 160 million accounts with credit cards and 1-click shopping in 23 countries.
10:38 [Comment From Guest ] Does the touch have a microphone?
10:38 Jason Snell: Yes
10:38 Jason Snell: iTunes 10 launching today
10:38 Jason Snell: New logo! Since next spring iTunes will surpass sales of CDs in the US, so we’re ditching the CD in the logo.
10:38 Jason Snell: New logo for iTunes 10 is a circle with a black note on a blue background.
10:39 [Comment From Guest ] Mic built-in for iPod Touch (for Facetime)? Or have to buy external mic?
10:39 Jason Snell: iTunes 10 “more elegant and simple, looks even better.”
10:39 Dan Frakes: Guest: I think it’s safe to say the new iPod touch will have a microphone, given that it supports FaceTime.
10:39 Jason Snell: Hybrid view with album artwork displaying for albums >5 songs, takes up no extra space
10:40 Jason Snell: “Focused on discovery with iTunes… how do you find new stuff?” People are always asking, what are my friends listening to? What are my favorite artists up to? What concerts are my friends going to? And how do I share with my friends?
10:40 Jason Snell: So in iTunes 10, “we’re announcing something really cool,’ and we call it Ping.
10:40 Jason Snell: Social network for music – Facebook and Twitter meet iTunes. It’s not Facebook, not Twitter, it’s something new.. a social network for music. Built right into iTunes.
10:41 Chris Breen: Nice that Apple continues to focus on refining the iTunes interface. Good idea as, with all its features, it can be cluttered. Doesn’t appear that this is the stripped down version that some have hoped for.
10:41 Jason Snell: Follow favorite artists and friends, discover what they’re talking about, listening to, downloading. Goes right into Source List in iTunes, right below iTunes Store.
10:42 Chris Breen: Jobs is right that music discovery is key. Thrilled that Apple is pursuing this.
10:42 Jason Snell: Artist pages for artists to promote & converse with fans. You can follow artists. But you can also do that with friends — what they’re listening to, what concerts they’re going to, etc.
10:42 Chris Breen: (Note that subscription services—Rhapsody, Napster, Rdio—already do this.)
10:42 Dan Frakes: Note to those watching the “live” stream. If it goes down, reload the page. It should start playing at the current point.
10:42 Jason Snell: Click the Follow button and you follow those users.
10:43 Jason Snell: Ping is for “social music discovery.” You can follow and be followed. Most artists will hold their hand up and say anyone can follow them. You can hold your hand up and say, anyone can follow me. Or you can say, people can follow me, but I have to approve every one. “’cause I’m a little particular.” And you can set up a circle of friends.
10:44 Jason Snell: “Privacy is super simple to set up. Anyone can do it.” Note to Facebook?
10:44 [Comment From LokiSnake ] Just to confirm, is the feature called Ping?
10:44 Dan Frakes: LokiSnake: Yes, it’s called Ping.
10:44 Jason Snell: Ping is open to 160 million iTunes users in 23 countries, immediately.
10:44 Jason Snell: Ping is part of iTunes, to be clear. Not a separate app or anything.
10:45 Jason Snell: Now demoing iTunes 10.
10:46 Jason Snell: Steve has posted a comment on Jack Johnson’s page.
10:46 Jason Snell: Now Steve’s playing a Paramore song recommended by Eddy Cue.
10:46 Jason Snell: Funny, they chose “The Only Exception.” The mellow one. Steve doesn’t want his buzz harshed.
10:47 Chris Breen: Concert listings is also nice. TuneUp—an iTunes companion program, does something similar. It shows you selected artists that are playing in your area. Plus links to ticket services.
10:47 Jason Snell: Oh, god, it’s a Gaga video where she endorses her iTunes artist page.
10:47 Jason Snell: “There we go,” Steve says. No comment.
10:47 Jason Snell: You see a concert, you can say ‘I’m going.”
10:48 Chris Breen: Also a good way for artists to talk to their fans. Could put MySpace pages at risk.
10:48 Jason Snell: (I hope the Old Spice guy has a page.)
10:48 Jason Snell: “It’s a social network all about music.”
10:49 Jason Snell: Ping is also on your iPhone and iPod touch.
10:49 Jason Snell: It shows up in the iTunes app. New Ping button.
10:49 Jason Snell: iTunes 10 available today.
10:50 Jason Snell: So, iOS, iTunes, iPod, not bad for one day. But we’ve got one more thing. Actually, it’s one more hobby.
10:50 Jason Snell: “We’re talking AppleTV. We introduced AppleTV four years ago, and we’ve sold a lot of them, but it’s never been a huge hit. Nor has any other competitive product. Nothing’s hit in the living room yet.”
10:50 Dan Frakes: Reminder: If Apple’s stream cuts out or resets to the beginning, reload the page.
10:51 Jason Snell: “But we’ve talked to people who use AppleTVs, and they love them. So what have we learned in the last four years?”
10:51 Jason Snell: “The first thing is, the number one, two, and three thing they want is hollywood movies and TV shows whenever they want them. It’s that simple.”
10:51 Jason Snell: “And they want everything in HD. The HD revolution is over, it happened, HD won.” “They’d like to pay lower prices for content.”
10:52 Jason Snell: They don’t want a computer for TV. They have computers. They go to their widescreen TVs for entertainment, not for another computer.
10:52 [Comment From Barnaby ] ” Ping is also on your iPhone and iPod touch.” – iPad too, I assume?
10:52 Jason Snell: Barnaby: Presumably only with iOS 4.2.
10:52 Jason Snell: “They don’t want to manage storage. People don’t want to think about it. They just want to watch movies and TV Shows. And they don’t want to sync to a computer. It’s too complicated.”
10:52 Jason Snell: And they want the hardware to be silent, cool, and small.
10:53 Jason Snell: “So this is what we’ve learned. And it’s quite a bit different from what a lot of other companies think… so we’ve made something new for our customers.”
10:53 Jason Snell: Second-generation of Apple TV is roughly 1/4 the footprint of the old one.
10:53 Jason Snell: It’s a small black box.
10:53 Jason Snell: You can hold it in the palm of your hand.
10:53 Jason Snell: On the back, it’s got HDMI, optical, USB, Ethernet, and a power plug. Brick’s built in.
10:54 Jason Snell: Wi-Fi built in. 802.11n
10:54 Chris Breen: Looks like Apple won’t have to fight with iTV after all.
10:54 Jason Snell: Comes with the Apple aluminum remote
10:54 Jason Snell: Movies, tV shows & music, all HD. All rentals, no purchases.
10:54 Jason Snell: No storage management.
10:55 Jason Snell: You don’t store things anymore, you just rent them.
10:55 Jason Snell: Streaming—no syncing. You stream content from your computer if you want.
10:55 Jason Snell: And when you stream photos, or get photos from somewhere else, there are stunning photo slideshows. and it’s silent, cool and tiny.
10:56 Jason Snell: So what about content? iTunes has the largest online library of movies to rent in the world. $4.99 first run HD movies. Day and date with DVD.
10:56 Jason Snell: To buy TV shows, used to be $2.99. To rent HD TV shows, 99 cents.
10:56 [Comment From GadgetDon ] So no more component video? Hmmm
10:56 Dan Frakes: GadgetDon: Only HDMI, it appears.
10:57 Jason Snell: ABC and Fox on board at launch. “We think the rest of the studios will see the light and get on board with us pretty fast.”
10:57 Jason Snell: Netflix subscribers can stream from Netflix Instant Watch.
10:57 Jason Snell: YouTube videos still there, including HD stuff.
10:57 Jason Snell: Photos from Flickr. Video and photos from MobileMe.
10:57 [Comment From reynog ] But you can still stream from your iTunes?
10:57 Dan Frakes: reynog: Jobs said it can stream from your computer.
10:58 Jason Snell: UI is very familiar. Same widescreen remote-driven interface as on current Apple TV, so far as I can tell.
10:58 Jason Snell: Rotten Tomatoes tomatometer is now displayed.
10:58 Jason Snell: With details from individual Rotten Tomatoes reviewers. Pretty nice.
10:59 Jason Snell: Internet menu: Netflix, YouTube, Podcasts, MobileMe, Flickr, Radio.
10:59 Chris Breen: I think it’s safe to say that this Apple TV isn’t the wholly different device some people were looking for — certainly not the iOS app running box.
10:59 Jason Snell: Computers menu: Lists your related computers in your network.
10:59 Jason Snell: Now we’re gonna demo the Apple TV.
11:00 Chris Breen: And given that it isn’t wholly different, how many people who resisted the last Apple TV will jump to this one?
11:01 Chris Breen: Of course price will make a big difference. Sell it for $99 and it’s tempting almost as an impulse buy.
11:02 Jason Snell: Iron Man 2, in HD, rented in a few seconds.
11:02 Chris Breen: Question for those following along: How many of you have a device that currently streams Netflix to your TV?
11:03 Jason Snell: In favorites, if you hold down the center button, it starts to jiggle and you can move it around… sound familiar?
11:03 Jason Snell: 48 hour rental for TV shows.
11:03 Jason Snell: Glee now playing on the big screen. Journey episode. Awesome.
11:03 Jason Snell: (Perhaps I’ve admitted too much.)
11:04 Chris Breen: Lots of you seem to already have Netflix streaming, as do I — Wii, Blu-ray player, Mac mini media server.
11:04 Jason Snell: Now let’s look at netflix, quickly bring up instant queue. “By far the best implementation of Netflix,” Steve says. He’s right. Much better than what I’ve got on my DVD player or Roku box.
11:04 Jason Snell: Fits right in with the Apple TV interface.
11:05 Jason Snell: Movie rentals are still 24 hours, so far as I can tell. Unfortunately.
11:05 Chris Breen: Netflix interface does look very nice.
11:05 Jason Snell: Now here’s AirPlay on iOS 4.2 on an iPad.
11:06 Jason Snell: Stream content from iOS device to an AppleTV. “So I’ve got my iPad here, and let me go to my video player, and I’ve got one of my favorite movies here, Up, and I’m going to go ahead and play it.”
11:06 Jason Snell: New button next to volume controls: AirPlay button. And there’s a dialog and you can tell it where to stream it. He chooses Family Room Apple TV and the movie starts playing on the big screen.
11:06 Chris Breen: Dan says “I would buy an Apple TV just for the AirPlay feature.” Me too. I can currently connect my iPad to my TV with a $49 cable, but this is far slicker.
11:07 Jason Snell: Content on iTunes in 6 countries: US, Canda, UK, France, Germany, Australia, and more coming later this year.
11:07 Jason Snell: Price of AppleTV was $229. Some feedback from our users was that they’d like to see it more affordable. $200-$300 was not what users wanted to experiment with. So we’re going to lower the price from $299 to $99.
11:08 Jason Snell: Available in about 4 weeks. Pre-order today.
11:08 Chris Breen: OK, $99 is a very sweet spot—that’s $50 more than a single cable that lets you connect your iPhone or iPad to your TV.
11:08 Jason Snell: “So here we are on Sept. 1. Let’s review what we talked about today. Strongest line-up of iPods ever. Shuffle, nano with multitouch, and iPod touch.”
11:09 Jason Snell: Facetime between iPhones and iPod touches, of course.
11:09 Jason Snell: And a new iTunes. iTunes 10 with Ping.
11:10 Jason Snell: Ping also on your iPhone and iPod touch.
11:10 Jason Snell: iOS 4.2, HDR photos, Game Center, and a whole lot more.
11:10 Jason Snell: And Apple TV, a phenomenal way to watch hollywood movies and TV shows in your living room whenever you want, as well as streaming content from Netflix and elsewhere
11:10 Jason Snell: “So those are the products we have to launch today, and we hope you are as excited about them as we are…”
11:10 Jason Snell: Guitar’s back up on the screen.
11:11 Jason Snell: “We started doing this music stuff for a really simple reason: we love music. That hasn’t changed one bit. Whenever we have a music event, we like to remind ourselves why we do this.”
11:11 Jason Snell: “So we asked one of our favorite musical artists to perform. We did that, and they accepted. This group has 4 albums out so far: It’s Coldplay.”
11:12 Jason Snell: So Chris Martin from Coldplay is here.
11:12 Jason Snell: He has a piano, not an Apple-themed guitar, by the way.
11:13 Jason Snell: “This is probably the toughest closing gig we’ve ever had. I don’t have any products to reveal. I’m very pleased to be here.”
11:13 Jason Snell: “I wish the rest of the band were here, but they’re too lazy.”
11:13 Jason Snell: It’s “Yellow.”
11:16 Jason Snell: “Look how they shine for you…” – okay, I’m not going to write what he’s singing like I do when Jobs is talking. 🙂
11:17 Jason Snell: He’s wearing a Flaming Lips t-shirt.
11:17 Jason Snell: Okay, “Viva La Vida.”
11:17 Jason Snell: “Apple helped turn this song into our biggest hit. Which proves that your marketing people can sell anything.”
11:18 [Comment From Joe ] stop having fun listening to that great music and start deconstructing Jobs’ presentation for us! 😉
11:18 Chris Breen: Dan’s going through your questions—like whether the current Apple TV can be updated. There’s always an after-event look-see for the press. Jason and Jon will do their best to get answers to these important questions.
11:18 Jason Snell: Joe, this is my reward for schlepping two blocks. Poor Frakes and Breen are doing the analysis 🙂
11:19 Jason Snell: Yes, we’ll try to answer some of the lingering questions in the next little bit as we get a chance to talk to Apple folks.
11:19 Chris Breen: BTW: The Apple Store is still down.
11:20 [Comment From Guest ] What kind of files/formats (except for QT) can the new appleTV open/show?
11:20 Jason Snell: My guess is, the same video formats that all Apple devices play.
11:20 Jason Snell: That means H.264, essentially.
11:21 Chris Breen: As a trained professional, may I just mention that Chris Martin has terrible piano technique. Curve those fingers, Chris!
11:22 Jason Snell: Steve commands he play one more.
11:22 Jason Snell: “This is Coldplay 2.6. It has a lot of new features. It has 7 new pairs of chord, including a new one that our closest rivals have no idea about, that Jonny Ive designed. It’s the chord of i Minor.”
11:23 Jason Snell: (Chris Martin—I did not make that up.)
11:24 [Comment From rtamesis ] Can I still buy movies and TV shows on iTunes for my iPad to stream to the new Apple TV, or am I now dependent on converting my DVD collection and getting digital copies from DVDs and BluRay discs that I buy?
11:24 Chris Breen: The Apple Store still shows the iPod classic — so get ’em while you can. But, unlike the other iPods, there’s not NEW badge next to it.
11:25 Jon Seff: rtamesis: my guess is that Apple will continue to sell TV shows and movies via iTunes and other devices.
11:25 Chris Breen: New Apple TV is 720p, not 1080p.
11:25 [Comment From Sam ] What happened to the Ipad2?
11:25 Jason Snell: @Sam: It was discontinued due to lack of existence.
11:26 [Comment From Sam ] I mean, why is there no mention of an Ipad 2? I was expecting it to be announced with facetime.
11:26 Jon Seff: What I love about these Apple music events is I get to see lots of artists I’d never go see in concert.
11:26 Jason Snell: @Sam: Probably not until spring. Apple tends to run in yearlong cycles.
11:26 Chris Breen: Audio and video specs for new Apple TV appear to be the same as for the original.
11:26 Jason Snell: There’s a hands-on area for press next door, so we’re gonna go get our hands on.
11:26 Jason Snell: Thanks for coming, everyone! We appreciate it.
1:30 Chris Breen: I see no mention of video for the iPod nano.