Steve Jobs live -- Apple's "The beat goes on" special event
By Ryan Block 
posted Sep 5th 2007 12:57PM
posted Sep 5th 2007 12:57PM
9:20AM PDT - They kept everyone outside a little longer than we would have liked, but they're finally admitting. This is the Moscone West -- we're assuming the huge hall Steve launched the iPhone in back in January.
Hold me closer, tiny dancer
9:32 - We're upstairs, the press is gathering. All the usual suspects are here; Mossberg just cruised up. This event space seats thousands, so we're a little surprised Steve's doing an event here for just a few hundred journalists. We're expecting a lot of empty seats... or a Cirque du Soleil performance on the open floor.
9:55am - It's pretty well full up, but definitely not crowded to the brim. White Stripes, Alicia Keys, cameras on cranes and booms to film the event, all the familiar sights and sounds.
9:57am - "Good morning ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this special Apple event. We'd like everyone to take a moment to turn off ALL electronic devices." Apparently this special privilege is reserved for Stevie, and Stevie alone. Well, this isn't an airplane, and if they think we're NOT going to liveblog this, they've got another thing coming. But yeah, we'll def switch off our ringers.
9:57am - "Good morning ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this special Apple event. We'd like everyone to take a moment to turn off ALL electronic devices." Apparently this special privilege is reserved for Stevie, and Stevie alone. Well, this isn't an airplane, and if they think we're NOT going to liveblog this, they've got another thing coming. But yeah, we'll def switch off our ringers.
10:01am - Lights are dimming, here we go! Music's over, lights go up, Steve takes the stage!
10:02am - Rounds of applause and cheering. And more. "Thank you." He's grinning. "Today we get to talk about music, so let's start with iTunes." "iTunes is a pretty amazing phenomenon." Facts and figures: 600 million copies of iTunes distributed. Over 3 billion songs bought on iTunes. "We're pretty amazed at this." Giggles. "This is the number one music store in all 21 countries we operate in."
10:06am - Big applause. "We're going to do ringtones in our own special way. Of course these are for the iPhone. What we want: rather than let someone else make ringtones, we people to be able to make their own." Build your own from songs bought in iTunes, 500k participating songs...
10:07am - "Our ringtones are going to cost just $.99 in addition to the song." Psh! You have to pay a second time to use a purchased song as a ringtone?!
10:08am - "Here's how it works... when you plug in your iPhone a new column will pop up with bells -- that shows how many songs you can make ringtones out of." Any segment up to 30s long, fade ins/outs. "When you're ready to buy, push the buy button and for 99c you have a ringtone." Demo time.
10:09am - "I like Aretha Frankin's Respect -- I can just tell this is going to make a great ringtone. I can put it on my iPhone, make it my default ringtone. I'm going to assign this one for when my wife calls..." laughter.
10:10am - Steve's grooving to R-E-S-P-E-C-T on stage. "There we go, that's what I want, and I'm going to just buy this ringtone right now." The clip appears in the ringtones folder along with other clips of music Steve didn't mind buying twice.
10:12am - "You can assign it as your default ringtone, or to your favorite people when they call... custom ringtone maker built in, over half a million participating songs, sync 'em right on your iPhone. We're going to turn this on next week. You'll need the new version of iTunes we're going to ship tonight. So that's the first thing today." Applause.
10:13am - "Let's start out easy... iPod shuffle. Refresh for this product. Holiday 2007 we're going to give it some new colors, when you see these in person you're going to love them. We also have something called the PRODUCT(RED) nano..."
"Games. More storage, and a full metal design. We're introducing a new nano here today... let me show it to you." It's the fatty!
10:16am - "It's incredibly tiny, this is the new nano, it's incredibly thin. It's REALLY nice." Huge applause. "Let me show you some bigger pictures of it... comes in beautiful colors. So what's the video like? New nano: larger 2-inch screen, it's going to look the same as it did on the iPod video, it's the same QVGA resolution. We've achieved this with a screen with the highest pixel density we've ever shipped."
10:17am - "We've also got an enhanced UI. It's going to show you album artwork floating by. When you're on videos... photos... it will even show you what you're going to get when going to extras. And we've got Cover Flow. Take your thumb, roll it around the wheel, it looks really nice. It's pretty stunning, all in such a tiny device. We're really, really happy with this."
10:18am - "We're also including 3 games bundled in with the nano. Let me show you one now, it's called Vortex." Demo time -- it's basically Arkanoid made circular. "We've also done some other games we're selling on iTunes."
Demoing EA's Sudoku game.
10:20am - "Isn't that incredible? All in a product this big. Video, new UI with Cover Flow, games... let's take a look at the new iPod nano." Demo time again, Beatles album artwork in screen. He does this every time!
He's scrolling in Cover Flow -- it looks decent, but a bit choppy and slow. Not super surprising considering the nano doesn't exactly have a lot of horsepower under the hood. Don't expect the iPhone Cover Flow experience, people!
10:21am - "It's that simple to browse your music collection." Doing video now. "I love Jon Stewart, I hope all of you watch his show. It's the best place to get the news every day." Showing the John Hodgman clip on net neutrality, trying to get Hodgman to admit to being a PC. Highlarious.
"These new nanos have left our factories, they've shipped and will be in our stores by this weekend."
10:27am - "A little video for everyone, that's what we set out to do with the new nano. We hope you love it as much as we do... That brings us to the iPod. The iPod... it's got a... it's got a funny name. It's got a funny name. It's time to give it a name: we're calling it the iPod Classic because it's the original iPod." Ha!
"When we introduced the iPhone in Jan, we said it was the best iPod ever. and iPhone owners agree with us, it's incredible with its multi-touch interface, it is the best iPod ever. People have been asking us when we're going to bring this technology to the iPod. The answer is we're going to do it today. And this is what the product looks like." It's a friggin iPhone!
It's called the iPod Touch.
10:32am - "It's the same size screen as the iPhone, but it's even thinner. It's 8mm thin. Unbelievable. The new iPod touch. It's one of the 7 wonders of the world." Laughter.
10:33am - "It features our revolutionary multi-touch interface that you've come to know and love on the iPhone. If you've used an iPhone you'll feel at home, it's exactly the same. Scroll through the artists with a flick of your finger. Turn it into a landscape position, it goes into Cover Flow, it's just magical."
10:34am - "All on this 8mm device. Let's look at video... all on this gorgeous 3.5-inch widescreen display. And photos... just like the iPhone this is the best way to share photos on a portable device. Ever. Flick through them, pinch them to make them larger or smaller."
Demo time!
Steve's browsing by Cover Flow -- note: it has WiFi! The WiFi meter is up at the top where it would be on the iPhone.
10:37am - Steve's watching, um, Wild Hogs. He's not having a mid-life crisis, too, is he?
10:38am - "Let's take a look at photos here... it's great, let's go into an album... I can just go like this, flick through these photos. There's just never been a better way to share photos with friends on the go. It's sooo nice. Turn it back. Boom." Icons: calendar, contacts, clock, calc, settings, music, videos, photo..."I showed you the clean side... I was keeping a secret. We've built in WiFi to the iPod touch." The antenna looks, um, bad.
10:39am - 802.11b/g -- "Others have done this and it's failed. We understand why it's failed, and we know what to do make it successful. Well, what's the problem with WiFi? Well, part of the problem is getting onto WiFi... you may be fine at home and the office, but anywhere in between can be challenging."
10:40am - "You may log in but you'll get a screen. Even walking through Stanford University you get a login page... so you can build in the hardware but you can't get the network [without the page]. So what do you do about that? We're going to add an application to the touch: the Safari web browser."
10:41am - This really is the phone-less iPhone. "But besides being able to log into WiFi, you get an incredible web browser! It is the best web browser on any mobile device, and it's built in to the iPod touch."
10:42am - "We're very, very excited about this. First time EVER on a music player to have a browser built in." Uh, totally not true: look at Archos. "Why stop there?" YouTube's on the Touch as well.
Looking on the NYT. "We can go over here... boom." Aw, it was a little boom that time.
10:45am - Bookmarked videos... "You get the idea, this gives you a feeling for what Safari and YouTube are like on the new iPod touch. We've built WiFi in and we've made it USABLE. We're REALLY excited about this."
10:46am - Connector on the bottom, but no speakers. "This is a worldwide product, the first touch product Apple's going to ship outside the US, it's going to be shipping all around the world."
"The battery life is fantastic: 22 hours audio, 5 hours video playback. All in something this thin. It's... it's... amazing to me. The new iPod touch."
10:48am - So, 8GB is $299... the price for the 16GB is $399." Less applause on the second one. "Both models are available in just a few weeks... they'll be shipping this month."
10:49am - Not shabby -- and thankfully no more Orba Squara iPhone music. But there is one more thing... if you'll bear with us for a few more minutes.
Four buttons: featured, top tens, search, downloads... "If you see something you like, tap it, free preview of the song." "You are now downloading the song... when it's done you can listen to it on your iPod touch, and it syncs back up to iTunes." Applause.
10:52am - "You can search for anything in the entire iTunes store. You can search for any artist, any song name, any album name, preview it, and if you love it go buy it. This is the new iTunes WiFi music store. Let me show it to you now."
10:53am - "Demo time: This is live coming over WiFi. I love John Lennon... so I'm going to buy this. It's now downloading... it takes a few seconds and once it's downloaded I can go to the downloads playlist and I can play it with album art and everything else. This is all live."
"Isn't this incredible?" Applause and cheers.
10:54am - He plays a wacky R&B track: "Ooook." Chuckles. Now he's listening to Coco -- "That's now being bought, as you can see. I want to search for something, so of course I'm going to search for Dylan. Live search comes back from the store...
10:55am - "WiFi, as you may know, is faster than any 3G cellular network, so it's really fast." Zing!
10:56am - "So, not so bad for the new iTunes WiFi music store." Applause. "The new music store will be available internationally in every one of those 22 countries Apple operates in. We're gonna do something else, too: we're gonna bring it to the iPhone." Big applause.
10:58am - "I can't tell you how much pleasure it brings me... we have a GREAT partnership with Starbucks we're announcing today. We love Starbucks. It's an incredible phenomenon in our culture. We want to combine our great iPods and our love of music and their great coffee and their great love of music."
Demo time. "So they just built a Starbucks back stage." Laughter. "They're playing a KT Tunstall song... I can go in here and preview it."
11:03am - "Who would have thought that a coffee company could win a Grammy? Let alone 8, when we co-produced with Concord Ray Charles's last album."
11:04am - He's going on about how this is going to transform the marketplace. Dude, let's not delude ourselves here. It's big, but it's not that big.
11:07am - It's exclusive with iTunes -- we wonder how T-Mobile feels about partnering indirectly with Apple. Ok, rollout plan: 5800 WiFi-enabled stores nationwide. Starting October 2nd: New York and Seattle. 600 stores, followed up in November with 350 stores in SF.
"We think this is going to set a lot of peoples' worlds on fire. And I'm going to include the iPhone, because as we've said, it's the best iPod ever."
11:12am - "But we want to get even more aggressive with this. Take a look at the iPhone. You know, the surveys are in: the customer satisfaction numbers on the iPhone are off the charts. They're higher from iPhone owners than any Apple product. Ever. They LOVE them. We want to make the iPhone even MORE affordable for even more people."
"So we're going to do something about that today. We're on track to ship our 1 millionth iPhone this month -- to get ready for the holidays here's what we're going to do. It's clear customers want the 8GB model -- it's not going to sell for 599 anymore.
"We want to put iPhones in a lot of stockings." But what about the 4GB? Does that mean it's being discontinued?
11:13am - Applause... "A lot of people at Apple have worked on these products. Some are here today, some are watching from our campus in Cupertino. I'd like those folks to stand up..." Wow, this is like half the audience.
11:16am - Her drum machine messes up: "Technology, eh?"
11:19am - KT's performing on stage.
11:21am - KT: "I'm very much looking forward to the 'iLoop pedal'." Waaah. "It's fantastic that Steve Jobs is making it more fun to pay for music than steal it!"
11:22am - Looks like that's it! We're out of here!
Can't wait to see the iphone like iPod
it's gonna be a good day to be a fanboy! I can't wait!
Have a link to the streaming video footage of the event?
I rather watch it then read what engadget thinks :)
I just want some iPhone updates. Or even better...an official SDK! All this hacking stuff makes me feel dirty.
Apple store down
I've heard the new iPods enable the user to timetravel and clone dinosaurs.
I almost want them to not release anything, just so I can feed off the disappointment.
Apparently we've already seen the new nano... oh well, looks like I'll be replacing my first gen with a recently reduced priced second gen. Like I need to watch a tiny screen when I'm on the treadmill or lifting weights. Strain your eyes while you strain your muscles... great philosophy Steve-o.
The cute thing about this is: of all the polls on various sites I've seen asking how you would change the Nano, higher capacity, all colors in all capacities, and longer battery life were all at the top. Video playback was consistently at the bottom. What does Apple do? They make the thing bigger so it can accomodate video. Fabulous... way to listen to the needs of the people.
where is my stereo bluetooth???? i hate wired headphones.
I want an iPhone so i can say that my Phone is worth more than my car.
Gimmie!
Indeed... and if you wait for ten or twenty years, people will give you one for free because it's no longer worth anything. Hell... why buy any technology product? ;)
Time for some new iPods Apple.
Steve says 1 sentence every minute...then waits...just to build the suspense.
Can't wait to see what's in store for the fall/winter season with Apple......I want a new iPod with touchscreen...will my wishes come true???? I can only hope.
The Steve has granted your wish.
I will be one of the losers standing in line at my local apple store waiting to get my hands on the new iPods... If they come out.
I will be one of those losers ordering online because I'll think I'm soooooo cool with the "uniqueness" of the quote I had engraved on the back.
As if a quote is ever unique...
iPod Touch.
WiFi and Bluetooth.
Overair purchases.
Brand new interface.
Please engadget can you blog it so that the newest feeds are at the top of the page. It makes it so much easier when you refresh. Everyone who agrees with me, reply to this post so that we can get it recognized by Ryan.
Thanks guys
True to word! Make the comments so most recent comes first!
Free battery replacement.
No more sad iPod icon.
No more scratches.
Compatible with all my current accessories.
Yes, having the new lines on the top would be nice, but having to re-scroll down the page got me to look at the photos they added later.
No! Oldest on top = Better!
how tough is it to push the end button, and then page up twice to get to the bottom of posts and comments? not very hard...leave it the way it is please Engadget
yes please
mmmmhmmmm
There's actually a reason we don't order it that way. When the liveblog is over, you have to read it bottom to top, which is not how we read things.
Anyhow, with most browsers nowadays when you hit F5 you'll refresh the page and jump down to the spot you were just reading, so you don't have to scroll down too far.
Get Tab Mix Plus for Firefox and enable the "auto refresh" function. Set it to refresh every minute or so and it will jump down to where you were previously too.
P.S. Can't wait!
Use this -
http://www.pagereboot.com/?url=http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/05/steve-jobs-live-apples-the-beat-goes-on-special-event/
They advertise iPod+iTunes and probably mean literally putting iTunes on iPod as you describe. However the big surprise today is iPod with Digital Camera!
Oldest on top please!
HELL NO! Oldest first!
They want you to scroll through the ads. That's how they get paid. They won't change it with any amount of begging.
I agree with Ryan, oldest first. However, if Engadget put an HTML anchor just above the last couple updates, you could put a link at the top of the page to take you down to the latest updates. Someone could even bookmark said link, and be taken to the latest updates whenever they clicked the bookmark.
New Updates come from the top over at CrunchGear's live Apple coverage. Just a heads up.
true!!
I wonder... in a time full of prizes on engadget.. why not make a contest before the new iPod is even out!!
Please let it be a phoneless iPhone
Guys, could you please make the updates go to the top of the page rather than the bottom this time?
Thanks!
Steven
This would be bad for newcomers coming late in the coverage. We want to see stuff in order!
I agree, I like the current format. I would like to discover as the event unfolds...and hopefully he does his "one more thing...", and isnt crap...
Well get here on time then :)
Engadget has the best coverage, but you have to manually refresh the page which causes your browser to return to the top of the page rather where you last were.
The other option would be to add an anchor to where the last post is.
Giz posts newest at the top.
Just leave it as is. Its perfect right now. When you press F5 or the refresh button, just give a few second, once everything is refreshed it will automatically scroll down to where you left off!
I already have the new iPod, all of us got it starting the 29th! :D
u jokin' right?
Of course he's not joking.
You don't have yours?
"Sent from a phoneless iPhone." :)
I think...
iPod Touch HDD (iPhone like) with wireless downloading/streaming
Fat iPod Nano
iPod Shuffle (RED)
One more thing... Beatles on iTunes!
How many comments do you think this post will rake up before the event starts?
When will the iPods be available for purchase if announced tomorrow? In a month? Immediately? What has been the case in the past?
Typically, they should be available in Apple stores (incl. online) the same day. Since their retail stores have opened, they've shafted other non-Apple stores (like Micro Center, Best Buy, Target, etc.), so they may not get them for a day or two. They did that w/the iMacs a few weeks ago, although sometimes iPods tend to be quicker. Sometimes (not true of the shuffle, for instance).
As for comments, I expect it to get in the mid-500 range by the event...
So would it be possible that the iPods are available to buy in Apple stores even before they are announced at the iPod event?
Apple is shipping them to retailers like Target as soon as it is announced. Expect them to arrive tomorrow mid morning...
I just called my apple store and they didn't know when it's for sale.
I just hope the new furby can learn cuss words faster.
I need that iPod!
greetings from Nicaragua
"Since you all have plenty of little white apple stickers by now, all new iPods will come with press-on tattoos!"
Perhaps a tattoo of jeans and a mach turtleneck. Steve's had his tattoo for years.
*mock* turtleneck.
No.. mach.. it's really that fast.
PLEASE.... let there be built-in Stereo Bluetooth.... PLEASE.....
Good god I hope not. Stereo bluetooth audio quality is awful.
I'm poised waiting with my payment card for a touch screen Wi-Fi iPod!
stereo headphones (wireless), touch iPod, iChat, Ringtones, new Nano's, bigger Shuffle's, 120gb iPod, longer batt life, comment on unlocking of iPhone's...
iPods are cool and all but is this gonna be iPod-only event like they did with the new iMac and iLife refresh last month? I hope not. Maybe toss in something about the Mac Mini like they alluded to during the iMac Q&A, Cinema Display, Leopard info, etc.
Quit with the lame announcements and blow us away like you did last January, por favor.
UK IPHONE PLEEEEEEEEEASE APPLE! lol lookin forward to this one; I should just be back from school in time :D
Steve, be nice to Canada and share the love/iPhone.
Since that's not happening for this event, yeah for phoneless iPhones!
Apple cha cha cha.
Apple cha cha cha.
im twiddling my thumbs
Can't wait
I don't understand..... why do you need Wi-Fi on a media player?! Easy pirating among friends?!
Download music and video directly from itunes would be cool, as well as podcasts. Would be cool if they included the internet browsing option, like on the iphone, probably unlikely though.
all i am hoping for is a nicely priced 30gb ipod with touch.
smaller than the iphone.
300 bucks for 30gb? then, i am there.
Would hook it up to my dual-tuner HD Motorola DVR from Comcast.
I would really,really like to win the gold prize... *fingers crossed*
ok, im surprised no one has said this, but:
widescreen display.
and wireless headphones
and the display should be about 5 inches wide.(sideways on the ipod)
it should compare to the size of like a psp.
being touchscreen is pretty much a given.
should be in OSX.
wireless purchases would be nice... but not required.
new ipod interface maybe? if its better.
more than 80GB???
i would also like to see how apple would put all that together. haha. this is going to be great.
wow.... my soul was just scarred. i realized im going to be 40 minutes late because i cant get to a computer at school untill 12:40. grr.
so will it be over then? hopefully not. OH THE ANTICIPATION!!!
im gonna go with:
touchscreen ipod running some kind of OS X with wi-fi, possibly wireless downloads
nano phatty
(PRODUCT)Red Suffle
some iphone ringtone downloads on itunes
ipod/ipod nano Advanced with iTUNE widget, wifi, movie and music download,iPod shuffle will up to 2GB and provide More kinds of color
We'll finally have the long-awaited telepathic interface! No headphones needed to hear the music or see the videos, and no click wheel needed to control the iPod, since it'll all be done telepathically! Just synchronize your brain waves with the iPod after agreeing to iTunes' terms of use which stipulate that Apple now owns your thoughts, and you're all set. Yup, I'm ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE that's the way it's goin' down Wednesday!
so at what time should i head to the apple store to buy the new ipod???
I was wondering this, today or tommorrow or sometime ages away! I think I'm gonna head down to my local Apple Store (Regent Street, London) around 8pm and see what's happening, although we'll probably know by then from the announcements when they're out.
I doubt the Apple store will have anything for you to buy today. Based on the reports of the last few days it seems like these unannounced products just went to manufacturing.
wow im dying here waiting
they will never do anything that can be added on with accessories, so no radio and probably have to pay for browser or internet
OMG It's an Ipod with a game controller extention
- Industrial Intelligence
If new iPods are announced tomorrow how long til they're available to buy in stores?
Can't wait for this
does the word epic come to mind? lets hope so anyway
igirl maybe
I'd be stoked with a hi def, wide screen, 1 TB flash, WiFi, touch screen iPod.. who knows though..?
I don't know if this has been noticed but i checked targets and best buys websites and all of the 5.5 iPods are completely out of stock. This is a good sign.
hey can you watch this live? no right? i want the new ipods! cant believe i gotta wait till 7 pm!
touchscreen + wifi + harddisk
then I am buying it !!!
Else I will wait for one !!!
I thinnk, YouTube video support for iPods will be introduced.
Gosh i have to wait until 7pm...
Curious.
apple chachacha indeed!
Argh 7pm is a long time to wait...!
Touch iPod with WiFi, Bluetooth, OSX.
iTunes adding Beatles Music, Ringtones, iPhone/iPod Games and Applications.
Nano with 2.6" QVGA touchscreen OSX etc. NOT PHATTY.
MacTablet will come with Leapord in October.
Oh and an update to the iPhone!
I hope it's absolutely rubbish!!!
so i wont be forced to go out and get one immediately!