Live from SF: Apple and Motorola's iTunes phone announcement
posted Sep 7th 2005 1:00PM
The wait is (almost) over: Apple and Motorola are finally unveiling the first iTunes phone today. Engadget bestest buddy Paul Boutin is there, and just like at WWDC he will be live-blogging the event for us. Stay tuned - we should be underway shortly:
1:00pm - The lights are going down. Al Gore is reportedly sitting in the front row. Steve is on stage.
1:01pm - "Apple is leading the digital music revolution, but to us, at it's core, it's all about the music." Steve introduces "16 time grammy award winner, the incomparable Yo Yo Ma" in the audience. "He's mad at me now, probably."
1:02pm - "Let's start today, I'd love to give you an update on itunes..." over half a billion songs sold, 1.8 million songs a day. "iTunes has an 80% market share here in the US." 85% of the global music market.
1:04pm - "Let me give you an update on podcasts." 7 million subscriptions to Podcasts. 15,000 podcasts in the Podcast Directory. 21 languages including Finnish, Serbian, and Thai. House Democrats and Senate Republicans are among the podcasters. Top 9: iTunes New Music Tuesday, Al Franken, Adam Curry (hey, we still in the top 30!)... 2 million songs now in the iTunes library.
1:06pm - "This next statistic we've never shared with anyone before: we have just crossed 10 million accounts on
iTunes." Average account has purchased 60 songs (mathematically that's just the number versus the number of accounts).
"iTunes may be the second largest Internet store behind only Amazon." New exclusive content: Harry Potter. All 6 audio
books only on iTunes.
1:07pm - New Harry Potter iPod, which has the crest
engraved on the back.
1:08pm - 1-click purchase of entire Harry Potter collection. Other exclusive: Madonna, all 15 albums available by album and by song. Steve is calling Madonna on iChat AV.
1:09pm - Madonna to Steve: "I got tired of not being able to download my own music." Steve: "Do you have an iPod?" Madonna: "Of course I do! That's so dumb! Every time I get one a new one comes out the next week."
1:11pm - iTunes 5! Pretty much same display, but cleaned up. Can organize folders of playlists.
1:12pm - The search bar can search just podcasts, just albums, etc. now. The search bar is also in the music store.
iTunes 5 now also autosyncs contacts and calendars from MS Outlook.
1:14pm - Smart Shuffle feature. "We've had a lot of people say our shuffle's not random" (laughter) "We've
actually added Smart Shuffle to make it less random. But it seems more random." From the UI: "Smart shuffle allows you
to control how likely you are to hear multiple songs by the same artist." Reviews added to iTunes.
1:17pm - iTunes 5 demo. Steve is searching for some musician named "Dylan" in the store. Results layout is more GUI, layout of album covers by artist.
1:20pm - Here it is: "There's One More Thing about iTunes that we're announcing today ... Today we are introducing the
iTunes phone: Motorola ROKR E1. 100 songs or other
downloads."
1:21pm - You load it via USB cable. "It's basically an iPod shuffle for your phone." No click wheel. It has auto-shuffle.
1:22pm - Steve is playing "Let's Get it Started" on the phone. Sounds good—lots of bass. The ringtone is still cheezy, which makes a nice contrast of how much better the music audio quality is than you'd expect. When the phone rings, the music pauses. "I hit the wrong button," Steve apologizes.
1:23pm - Ron Garriques, President of Motorola's mobile phone division, is on stage.
1:27pm - Garriques on the ROKR: "It's a great ARPU story." That's Average Revenue Per User.
1:28pm - Sneak preview of TV ad. Madonna and a bunch of other people. Hey, there's Iggy Pop without a shirt!
1:29pm - Steve's on stage again: "The number one wireless carrier in North America, Cingular, is going to be the
exclusive carrier..."
1:30pm - Ralph de la Vega, COO of Cingular is onstage. "Today, the talk ends, and the music begins."
1:34pm - Ralph says he knows we're worried about battery life. He says he flew cross-country with it yesterday, made some phone calls at his hotel, then left it on the table overnight. The battery gauge still showed full in the morning.
1:35pm - Previews of outdoor ads (billboards): "Now you can KISS and tell", "smashblabbermouth", and "Matthew Sweet talk".
1:37pm - Magazine ads. "Elvis may have left the building, but now you can get him on the
phone."
1:41pm - "Now, I'd like to give you an update on iPod. Almost 22 million sold as of June. New automotive Made For iPod products: Honda, Acura, Audi, VW adding iPod capabilities.
1:42pm - 30% of all cars in 2006 sold in US will offer an iPod option.
1:43pm - "Today, we're gonna focus on the iPod mini." Most popular MP3 player in the world. "Today, we're going to do something pretty bold... we're going to replace it." With...
1:44pm - The iPod nano. 1,000 songs.
1:45pm - It has a color display and a click wheel. Looks like a shrunken iPod photo.
1:46pm - 1/5 size of original iPod. 62% smaller by volume than mini. 1/3 size of mini.
1:47pm - Steve is comparing the nano to other players and cellphones. 30-pin dock connector same as other iPods. Color screen.
1:48 - New clock, can add multiple time zones. They show inverse mode at night. Games, calendars, stopwatch, and lap timer. Screen lock with password. "If you have your contacts and calendars on, you might want to lock your screen". "Some people are going to forget everything, so they're going to forget their combination." When you redock your nano, it opens the lock. It's 1.5 ounces, 42 grams, less than 8 quarters. It fits in watch pocket of jeans, and has USB 2.0.
1:49pm - 14 hour battery life, both PC and Mac.
1:50pm - "One other thing..." The nano will come in a second color, black. The 4GB/1,000 song model will go for $249,
the 2GB/500 song model for $199.
1:51pm - The nano ships today. "They will be in some stores as early as tomorrow afternoon or Friday." Accessories: $29 dock, $39 lanyard headphone. 5 armband colors, $29.
1:52pm - New accessory: "nanotubes". Colored skins, a box of 5 colors will run $29. Rolling out to stores over the next four weeks. "Again, the key messages here are 1,000 songs in your pocket, impossibly small"
1:54pm - "My prediction is this is instantly going to become the
highest-volume, most popular iPod in the world. At events like this, we always like to remind ourselves that the most
important thing is the music." So who's the guest star? Kanye West, that's who.
1:55pm - Kanye West: "I'd like to thank Steve Jobs for still letting me perform."
1:58pm - Kanye just dissed Bush again.
2:04pm - Peace out from Kanye. Steve is back on stage. "Thank you all for coming, and we'll see you soon. Buh-bye." That's it!
What did Kanye say this time? lol
Does anyone else think Steve J has a kind of Hitler-esque pose in that picture?
Hmm...
Hmm indeed...
so does this mean we'll be getting a mac nano with a white body?
and yes, i'm joking
I told my sister to wait before getting an ipod because they were going to upgrade, and now the iPod mini doesn't exist. 2gb for 200 dollars is not very good. Is it still possible to buy iPod minis new?
What did Kanye West say about Bush? Can anyone give me a quote?
Never mind, I found it with a quick google news search.
From a Spin article (http://www.spin.com/features/news/2005/09/050907_apple/):
West changed the lyrics to his hit "All Falls Down," saying, "She had hair so long that it looked like weave / Then she cut it all off now she look like Steve" -- that Steve being Jobs. Later on, keeping with his anti-Bush statements from last week, rapped, "That's why shorties hollering 'where the ballas' at?' / Drug dealer buy Jordans, crackhead buy crack / And George Bush get paid off of all of that."
DUDE!!!! What the f*ck Steve??? Has anyone ever seen an ipod as f*cking ugly as the the nano?? That thing is a piece of cr@p!!! **Turns Around And Looks At His iPod Mini** How could they replace the most popular mp3 player in the world with that piece of shit?!
Does this mean the iPod mini will be in high demand for a few months while the supplies exhaust? I just recently bought my Mini, and now I kind of feel proud to own a soon-to-be "hard-to-get" item. Although I am somewhat disappointed in Apple for not slowly progressing this unveiling. Feel bad for the consumers who recently spend the same amount on Mini's.
iPod nano and nanotubes? Worst naming scheme ever. I'd understand if they borrowed household terms from other fields, but borrowing terms from cutting-edge fields unfamiliar to the average, simply to bask in the glory of advanced research, is beyond redemption.
There can only be google nazi's.. Ipod nazi's has gone too far! (notice how his hand position is like in the pic)
nano black rocks!
I think that iPod nano will be a huge success. It is the first iPod that offers you (almost) all you need (I'm waiting for the 200GB flash-based iPod :-D ) and it is not oversized in any way: it is very light, and if it would have been smaller, it would have been very hard to use it.
it's all about the black...ooooh yeaaahhh...
and it IS a shame that more people, like kanye, don't stand up and speak out...this administration has handled things, or bungled, in a most atrocious fashion...
The iPod Nano looks fantastic. I might consider picking one up eventually. Were the headphone jack on the top instead of the bottom I would be among their first customers. To bad they had to bungle that part up. And too bad they had an idiot like Kanye West perform there. That's what happens when you have corrupt marketing making major decisions.
Ey stop hating on Kanye, he's a great guy, at least he has a own opinion instead of some other guys going along with everything the government claims.
iPod Nano looks fucking great man, I'm gonna pick one up soon :)
Kanye did not change his lyrics about Bush. Those are the original lyrics to the song that was released about 2 years ago. Sorry to disappoint.
Bought my ipod mini exactly one year ago and the battery is fucked. I am managing to get it changed on the last day of warrenty. If it happened a couple of weeks later I would have been screwed.
I think the nano looks excellent and I will definately buy one but not until I know that the battery issues have been sorted.
I know that ion lithium batteries have a limited life span but 1 year is taking the piss.
I would advise anybody thinking of buying one to hold off for a couple of months if they can until it's been properly tested/reviewed so you know what potential flaws your buying into.
Why are Americans always so obsessed with what happened in Germany before WW2?
You know, I really would very much like to post a 4-page essay about my opinion on this subject here, but as recent incidents have shown "Freedom of Speech" isn't so free after all, so I'll limit myself to a few sencences:
The only similarity between the pose Mr. Jobs was photographed in and the so called "Hitlergruss" is a somewhat extended arm. Beside the facts that extending one's arm is an absolutely normal gesture most people execute several times daily and this photo probably only showing one still frame out of a "welcome be the lot"-armswing movement, IT'S THE WRONG ARM!
So if you want to make any more inappropriate jokes about the death of 6 million people, please do everyone a favour and read a history book first!
WHOA, that is sweet so much better than the mini iPod man. I'm getting one ussually I've been a pretty faithful Windows guy but this could steer me away from using only third party or windows media devices. It's UNBELIEVABLY small, and personally I don't think I'd ever use 1,000 songs so it's good that it hold pictures to. I want one. (In black that color seems better but that's besides the point) TWO THUMBS UP YO!
@43: the original lyrics did not mention George Bush... however Kanye did change Eve to Steve. :P Here they are.
Drug dealer buy Jordans, crackhead buy crack
And a white man get paid off of all of that
Bought my iPod Mini about a year ago and it's working perfectly. I'll miss ya little buddy but the Nano is going to be my next honey.
Nano design looks so superb I can't believe it. Phone design looks so attrociously bad I want to kill the Moto team.
Oh and about the whole Bush thing; if your defending him, your a selfish bastard that only does so because he screws over other people, and not you. The Bush administration ave never bungled, their exploitation, monopolisation and horrific human rights abuses are all concious decisions of greedy men who realise that the fate of history will be decided in the next few decades, with resources and human technology raising the stakes to their final heights.
I keep wanting to pronounce the iTunes phone's name 'Roker' as in Al Roker, makes sense as the phone is about as attractive. A note to Apple and Motorola: in English an O is going to sound like the O in Roker unless you add the C in front of the K for 2 consonants following the vowel, no such luck if you try to skip the E before the R and call 'KR' a valid double consonant combination...
I just recently ordered a Ipod nano(white). I figured that im so freaking clumsy, i'd scratch the black and it would show like crazy. I purchased an ipod mini about a year ago and i kind of wished i had held back so that i could have gotten this instead. oh well, now i'll have two! I'm kind of worried about the whole lithium battery thing. I noticed that it was a pretty important topic in the ipod site. they really should make cases for the ipod mini and nano. I'm bound to end up sitting on them. I suppose if the battery wears out, it wouldnt be too bad to get it replaced as long as i'm up to date with all the ipods! If they go any smaller, i'll freak.
iPod nano is the sexiest thing alive... if you don't like it, i suggest buying one, or having brain surgery...
I'm sticking to my old 40GB (3rd Gen) iPod for now, though too...love it
come on steve
woooo bring it on stevie J!
~wC
I'll stay splotched to the screen until this is all over!
Yo Yo Ma rules! heh :P
You guys are always great about covering these live updates. Kudos.
oh yeah here it comes
The Apple Store is down! :D
I hope my work doesn't care that I am refreshing this page every 20 seconds to catch the news.
Harry Potter iPod? Does this mean that the U2 one is dead?
"1:44pm - The iPod nano. 1000 songs."
Heh.
whooa so kevin predicted correctly, iPod nano. sounds cool. any pictures??
Who thinks that Bush will dump his iPod and get a Zen Micro or something because of this?
no video ipods eh? ah well.
nano: http://flickr.com/photos/ipodlounger/41197718/
1:58pm - Kanye just dissed Bush again.
is that real? LOL
#10, try this link.
http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/
duh... ;o)
Please tell me this guy knows who Dylan is... ;-)
Installed iTunes 5. Launched. Crashed. Forced Quit. Launched again. Played. Phew & Sheesh!
You would have thought Steve would have told Kanye to STFU on the political side of things for his press conference.
I'm in line for the iPod nano now!
Apple seems to have screwed over:
1. third party clear case manufacturers (or co-opted them)
2. All flash based mp3 players.
what fun! ;)
Lol "1:58pm - Kanye just dissed Bush again." I was wondering that when I found out Kanye appeared.
Kayne is a friggin traitor. He is a looter in spirit!
Fuck him!!
I think the big news here (that eveyone is overlooking) is the car integration. iPod is becoming the defacto standard for OEM car audio. YOu don't think that's a huge potential market? I mean, what's a $300iPod when you're buying a car? More revenue for the ITMS too.
Kanye is an idiot.
one more reason to hate Kanye West.
What happened to freedom of speech you Americans love so much? You should also be able to speak out about differing views than what your president says without getting bleeped or thrown off the air, but hey, that's just my little opinion. Or is it "freedom of speech as long as you agree with the government on everything?"
And that out of the way, fantastic job on iPod Nano! Looks great, but ROKR totally disappointed me. No wonder they kept pushing the release date on it, it looks terrible... nothing at all you'd expect from Apple. Perhaps Apple should have made a more clear distinction, not an Apple phone, just supports iTunes, that thing can't be designed by Apple, can it?!
Just have to love Steve for endorsing Kanye to show he's not one of the evil ones! Bit disapointed by the lame phone design though.. why not put the apple design team on that?