Apple's new iPhone 4S is just last year's design loaded with a new brain and more memory. It will run your apps faster and Apple's new iOS5's Assistant, an artificial intelligence program that listens and interprets your orders, and a new camera.
It just looks exactly the same, but there's plenty of changes inside: More »
Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone event is underway in Cupertino, having begun at 10 am, Pacific, 1 pm, Eastern.
The company will offer a new model of the iPhone, called the “iPhone 4S,” which it said will be twice as fast as the existing model, and have graphics capabilities seven times as fast.
Much of the presentation leading up to that announcement consisted of rehashing success of the company’s iOS devices — iPhone, iPad, etc. — and upcoming features of its iOS 5 update, which will be available on October 12th, along with the “iCloud” service. We’re still waiting for the iPhone unveiling. The company did discuss a couple of previously undisclosed software items, including an app called “Cards,” to send postcards by mail from your phone, and a service on iCloud that will let you see where friends are nearby.
The Wall Street Journal’s Geoffrey Fowler today offers an overview of the event, characterizing it as the maiden voyage of newly installed CEO Tim Cook.
Your humble host will not be on premises, having remained in New York to mind the shop. However, multiple talented and well-situated folks are narrating the proceedings from the scene.
My friend Eric Savitz over at Forbes will be on hand, of course, and this morninghe offered a nice overview piece. Take it away, Eric.
Tech Trader’s sister blog, Digits, is live on the scene, with shots of what looks like a very nice buffet breakfast at Infinite Loop.
Tim Stevens of Engadget is on the scene, with the usual visual flair.
Apple shares are currently up $4.84, or 1.3%, at $379.44, having recovered from a slight dip earlier in the session, as the Nasdaq overall pulls itself into the green.
Update: Apple shares, and Sprint-Nextel (S) shares, both had a pop before the hour, but are now struggling to hang onto gains, up less than 1%, which is slightly below the Nasdaq’s overall 1% gain.
AppleInsider is reporting that Apple has “outed” the new iPhone’s identity on its Japanese retail site as “iPhone 4S,” in contrast to speculation to theories of an “iPhone 5.”
Tim Cook is now onstage, talking a bit about recent Apple retail openings, such as Shanghai. The company now has 357 stores in 11 countries.
Cook has moved on to talking about the Mac. The company now has 58 million Mac users worldwide.
It looks as if that news about the new device being an iPhone 4S may have dented some enthusiasm, for the moment: Apple shares are now down $1.05 cents at $373.55.
Cook talks a bit about the iPod. The company has sold over 300 million iPods to date. Cook quips that it took Sony (SNE) two decades to sell a fraction of that many Walkman cassette players. (What’s a cassette?)
Cook veered briefly into talking about the iPhone, saying its becoming the dominant smartphone in the world. But then he lurched into a video about theiPad.
Total iOS-based devices have now crossed the quarter-billion unit sales mark.
Software veep Scott Forstall is on stage, talking about iOS. Customers have downloaded 18 billion apps from the App Store. Apple has paid out $3 billion in revenue to developers of those apps. And there are now over 140,000 apps specially built for the iPad.
He showed off an app called “Cards,” which will let you send a printed postcard from your iPhone, to be delivered via snail mail, and get a notification on your phone when it was delivered. The cost is $2.99 to anyone in the States, and $4.99 to any country in the world.
They are really stretching this out.
Forstall is rehashing much of what was discussed in this summer’s Apple developer conference about the iOS 5 update — instant messaging between iOS users, notifications on the lock screen of the phone, the “Newsstand” feature for updating publications you subscribe to, etc.
Apple shares are down $1, or 0.3%, at $373.60.
(I have the sense, though I could be wrong, that today’s presentation so far has not included data points that the Street can use to infer last quarter’s sales. That’s one of the things the bean counters hoped to come away with from this event.)
Forstall says the iOS 5 update will be available for download on October 12th.
Veep Eddy Cue is onstage now, talking about the company’s “iCloud” service, which will provide automatic synchronization and backup of devices.
One new feature Cue has discussed is “Find My Friends,” which allows you to see other iOS device users on a map in your vicinity. Assuming they’ve granted permission, Cue clarifies.
iCloud and its services will also become available on October 12th.
Veep Phil Shiller is up on stage now to talk about the iPod. Apple is dropping the price on the iPod “Nano,” to $129 from $149 for the eight-gigabyte model, and to $149 from $179 for the 16-gigabyte model.
Apple shares are down $2.56, or 0.7%, at $372.04.
Shiller says Apple will offer a version of the iPod “Touch” in white, with both white and black models going for $199, $299, and $399 in versions of 8 gigs, 32 gigs and 64 gigs.
Now Shiller is — finally — going into the “iPhone 4S,” as he just called it. It will feature the A5 chip, he says. The chip will make the device twice as fast as the existing model, and make graphics performance seven times as fast. The new model will get up to 8 hours of talk time on 3G networks, remarked Shiller, and six hours of Web browsing on a charge.
As widely expected, the new model will feature HSDPA+ support, allowing for download speeds of 14.4 megabits per second, twice the rate on the current iPhone 4.
Apple shares are down $3.7324, or 1%, at $370.87
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