Live Coverage: Apple “Let’s Rock” Event: (UPDATE 14)

Mike is at the London end of the Apple announcement today, bashing away LIVE as things happen.

Live Coverage: Apple Started early by the looks of it.

[17:55:26] Bloke currently waffling on about their 500 resellers in EMEA
[17:55:37] big crowd too
[17:56:21] loads of “we’re great” blather going on
[17:56:38] Right: it’s started
[17:57:56] showing footage from Apple borg crowds around the world
[17:58:12] actually it’s just SF
[17:58:38] got to be around 700peeps here
[18:00:44] whooping from SF
[18:01:37] Jobs on screen – makes joke about rumours of his death being exagerated: cue more whooping
[18:02:11] 8.5m songs now on iTunes, 2600 Hollywood movies
[18:02:41] 65m user accounts shopping
[18:03:03] now #1 music distributor in US

[18:03:15] adding new content: HD TV shows
[18:03:39] $2.99 for HD and you can watch them on computer
[18:03:51] NBC coming back to itunes
[18:04:18] Hi def NBC shows
[18:04:30] iTunes 8 intro’s
[18:04:47] supports HD TV
[18:05:02] and Genius

[18:05:34] Browsing now you can browse by album art
[18:05:58] by artists, cd etc. like wow (not)
[18:06:42] Genius: let’s you to automatically make playlists by auto matching songs in your collection
[18:06:46] one click
[18:07:20] up to 100 songs in each list
[18:07:38] and can also bring up suggested lists from iTunes
[18:08:46] uploads your info to Genius (anonymously) and aggregates it with other users to suggest smarter lists
[18:09:33] (hope it gets better than this)
[18:10:48] Genius works with TV and movies too

[18:11:47] (bored now)
[18:12:49] He’s going on and on about this Genius playlist thing
[18:13:27] Yes Jobs, it auto generates f***ing lists of songs!
[18:13:47] and invites you to spend more money on iTunes, ok
[18:14:20] Whooping from SF crowd. silence from London crowd
[18:14:29] iPod updates:
[18:14:46] 73.4 pc market share
[18:15:41] 90pc of all US cars offer iPod integration
[18:15:52] Total iPod sales now 160m
[18:16:27] iPod classic – 120GB for $249
[18:16:39] upgrade from 80GB

Live Coverage: Apple [18:17:33] Nano: … new model – that curvy one that was leaked
[18:17:46] thinnest ever
[18:17:51] oval body
[18:18:52] curved glass

[18:19:23] enhanced user interface + accelerometer and create genius playlists
[18:20:19] cover-flow, video
[18:20:45] calendar, voice record
[18:21:15] (*trying to get excited)

[18:22:46] hold centre button to make playlist based on tunes on iPod
[18:22:51] Shake to shuffle
[18:23:02] shake iPod and shuffle mods starts
[18:23:08] much whooping
[18:23:22] same as Sony Erics, no?

[18:24:29] 24hr battery for music, 4 for vid
[18:25:46] colours available:
[18:26:07] 8 colours
[18:26:24] 149 for 8GB model
[18:26:33] 16GB for 199
[18:26:49] shipping by this weekend
[18:27:37] New headphones letting you control tracks and volume
[18:27:48] with mic
[18:28:12] 29 bucks for those headphones

Live Coverage: Apple [18:30:21] ipod touch-looks same but thinner
[18:31:01] integrated volume control on side
[18:31:12] built in speaker
[18:31:43] Genius playlist plus built in App store
[18:32:02] Speaker for ‘causal’ listening
[18:32:28] Nike plus software with receiver built in

[18:33:55] 100m downloads from app store
[18:34:00] in 60 days
[18:35:09] Showing off games now.
[18:35:58] god. he’s playing U2
[18:37:42] games demo
[18:38:29] version for iPod touch of Spore (video)

[18:39:41] showing demo
[18:40:11] character controlled by accelerometer
[18:41:22] Gameloft: Real Soccer 2009 – shipping today
[18:41:53] looks very slick
[18:42:25] overlaid 4 type controls
[18:43:02] scored goal against dreadful goalie
[18:43:22] Coming up in Nov: Need for Speed Undercover
[18:43:50] plays on touch/iphone

[18:45:41] Battery life of 36hrs music, 6hrs vid on Touch
[18:46:30] 8GB for $229
[18:46:42] 16GB for $299
[18:46:57] 32GB for $329
[18:47:04] all avail now
[18:47:41] Making a big deal of the gaming stuff
[18:48:13] Jobs claiming it could be the best handheld gaming model
[18:48:52] Touch has new software v2.1 with free update or $9.95 from v1
[18:49:05] v2.1 update for iPhone too
[18:49:16] fewer call drops, better battery
[18:49:31] faster back ups to iTunes
[18:49:56] Free update for iPhone users, comes out Fri

Live Coverage: Apple [18:51:33] Special guest performing…
[18:51:54] Jack Johnson
[18:52:12] apparently #1 iTunes download. wha’?
[18:52:38] now he’s playing some dull tune
[18:53:07] (booooooooring)
[18:53:18] (boooo!)
[18:53:28] (gerroff!)
[18:54:12] (Do they always have crap bands on these things?)
[18:54:41] (zzzzz)
[18:55:15] (make it end!)
[18:55:49] (dull dull dull)

[18:56:57] This is rubbish: the song never ends
[18:57:46] Very bored looking crowd here
[18:57:57] much playing with phones
[18:59:55] Much arse licking from jack
[19:00:18] Please no! it’s another blasted song
[19:01:07] I’m going to play a game on my phone-back in a min
[19:04:29] Thank goodness for that
[19:04:42] Hang on: where’s the … and finally bit?
[19:04:51] Nope that’s it.