I attended Apple’s iPhone event in Cupertino Tuesday, and live-blogged the proceedings here. Like everybody else, I was expecting two new iPhones and the release of iOS 7, and that’s what we got.
Here is what has been announced so far. We’ll have much more to come later.
- iOS 7 is available on September 18 for certain devices
- Apple announces budget-priced, plastic iPhone 5c
- Apple unveils the iPhone 5s, its “most forward-thinking phone yet”
- Apple’s new 64-bit chip is too much for a smartphone, but great for a MacBook
My summary of the day: All the rumors were true. Sonny Dickenson hit it out of the park. I am impressed by the innards of the phone(s) and the cheaper iPhone 5C aren’t too bad and not as disappointing.
More importantly, I think there isn’t anything that didn’t surprise me. Apple did what it does well — innovate on hardware and integrating it with their software, but I didn’t see anything that gives me confidence in Apple’s ability to exist in world where services are equally important.
Their bet is app developers are going to do it, but the fact is that as Instagram and SnapChat have shown — users are on Android and that’s the area they need to focus on for international growth.
PS: I will buy the iPhone 5S, though will have to wait for a few days since I am traveling overseas.
Elvis Costello is here to and I think we are done. It was an hour long show! No new iPads just yet.
And now we have a surprise guest. …
Tim is extolling virtues of iPhone 5C, iPhone 5S and iOS 7. (new ad being aired.)
Tim is back
iPhone 5 is dead. Sept. 20 you can purchase iPhone 5C and 5S in a whole bunch of countries. First day launch in China. And Japan they will have NTT DoCoMo along with the usual suspects. By Dece 2013 — 100 countries and 270 carriers.
This is our most forward thinking phone yet. 16GB $199 and 32 GB $299 and 64 GB $399. Leather cases in five colors – $39 each. (They are horrible at least from what I saw.)
ID is not saved on Apple servers
Super impressed with TouchID sensor but want to try it to pass judgement. Now Jony Movie Star is back!
It is on the home button and basically it is exactly the same way you use it and it is super smart and is protected by a sapphire lens.
introducing TouchID and you now use fingerprint and detailed ability to scan finger
Phil is talking about security and the most common way is to set up a password. About half of the smartphone customers don’t set up a password.
The camera in iPhone 5s spells doom for lower end SLRs. Some seriousy good technology in there.
Now showing photos taken with iPhone 5s. Quite impressive.
Auto image stabilization is built in and you get sharper images. It is taking multiple photos and combines them and makes sense of the photos. Also has a burst mode. (oh, we have been doing that with other apps ) Slo-Mo feature in the camera. (NIce.)
Does auto white balance, auto exposure, dynamic tone map and autofocus matrix metering and takes multiple pictures and shoes you the sharpest in a simple fashion. True tone flash. Flash adjusts to light conditions.
New camera f2.2 aperture and 15% larger active sensor area. Bigger pixels = bigger picture. 1.5 micron pixels.
Battery life…. says will be as good as iPhone 5 but not buying it. it is sort of overselling… but that’s me.
New M7 works along A7 and motion processor. Makes sense of all the sensor data and gives new powers to the iPhone. So amazing and learning from sensors.
Phil is back
Epic Games Donald Mustard is showing off the games with this new A7 chip. The graphics are stunning and smooth as silk. I do want to get hands on this device asap.
2x as fast as A6 and 2X in graphics improvement with A7> Chip nerd heaven. As an old-time chip reporter, this is nothing short of stunning and amazing.
It will be an easy transition for developers and they are going to get upgraded tools for 32 and 64 bit applications.
New A7 64 bit system on a chip. First in a chip. This is pretty awesome — as a chip nerd I love this.
It is the gold standard for the smartphones. Comes in three finishes… silver, gold and space gray.
Phil is back to announce the iPhone 5S. Most forward thinking phone anyone has created.
My thoughts on iPhone 5C — it is a remarkable fightback action against growth of Android at the low end. My feeling — they should have done this six months ago.
Jony loves showing off the manufacturing process. He is my hero thusly. I love love these making phones films — because they tell the difference between how Apple approaches product design and how others do it.
Break to show a film starring who else but Jony Ive. (Must be something to do with his calming voice.)
Looks like my nieces are getting this instead of the more expensive iPhone 5s.
Blue, white, pink, yellow and green. 16GB for $99 and 32 Gb for $199. 2-year contract. 6 cases $29 each.
Facetime HD camera for low light optimization (more selfies) and more networking banda and probably most LTE support world wide.
Made of hard coated polycarbonate material and is steel reinforced. 4 Inch Reitna and is powered by A 6 chip. 8 Megapixel camera.
the iPhone 5C matches the IOS 7 and together they are just looking amazing. I know a little candy colored but damn good looking.
iPhone 5C is introduced and it is more colorful and fun than any iPhone we have made.
Phil Schiller on stage (hoot and holler.)
We want to serve more customers.
Business has become large, that we are going to replace the iPhone 5 with not 1 but two new designs
iPhone 5 had the most successful year of any iPhone. iPhone biz went to an entirely different level and making it very huge.
iPhone talk begins
We are making all five apps free — iWork, iPhoto and iMovie are free with all new iOS devices. (How about those of us who paid getting their money back? Damn!)
We make some incredible creativity apps – iPhoto and iMovie. We think that iWork is a key advantage for customer productivity and others for creativity. All iOS devices are made better with these apps.
(Talking about iWork) iWork now consists of best selling productivity apps on any platform.
It has been an incredible effort and it is possible because of Jonny and his incredible design team and Craig and his incredible engineering team.
Tim is back
200 features and we are seeing a lot of new designs – Open Table, Zillow and NBC. (Seriously Craig, you couldn’t find any indie developers to tout, you know the guys who do fun cutting edge stuff. Do you ever use Evernote. )
Here’s our coverage from WWDC in June for more details on the basic iOS 7 details: https://gigaom.com/2013/06/07/live-blog-apple-keynote-wwdc-2013/
So the iTunes Radio is here and it looks damn good. I am sure they will be great to access, but still am not clear on how they are using the metadata to make my choices.
Camera improvements in iOS7 — those are pretty nice. Showing off photo collections etc. Very nice, but we have seen this before at WWDC.
Siri is improved. (just not as good as Google Now, I bet.) Showing off new ringtones. I am not sure if I am that excited about sounds.
Craig: Search is easier – pull down and search from anywhere. (Interrupted by the dreaded auto correct – mouse vs mousse. Now you feel our pain, homie?)
Craig Federighi is on stage to talk about iOS7. (Lot of the stuff we have seen before.)
iOS7 will quickly become the most popular mobile OS.
We have been hard at work finishing up iOS 7 and next month we will ship the 700 millionth iOS device (Applause.)
Stanford store – 9 years has served 5 million customers. And this we have replaced it with a new store with glass on 3 sides. It is an architectural marvel. Over 8 times the size of the old store.
20 million applied for tickets for the iTunes concert. Applause. Live video broadcast to 100+ countries. Applause (maybe because it is an Apple Internet product that really worked.) Now showing some film about the iTunes Festival and fans yelling. (Did they allow Android phones into the stadium?)
7th year of iTunes Festival and 30 days of music from London. Lady Gaga performed her new unreleased albums, JT and Kate Perry to star soon.
People are joining in from Beijing, Tokyo and Berlin. Cook welcomes them, Now talking about iTunes Feastival.
We are getting underway. Tim Cook is here on stage.
Bad News — no video stream for this event.
Spotted at the Town Hall — Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, Jack Dorsey of Twitter and Square and Al Gore — among several guests who are well, like us — waiting in anticipation for the new iPhones.
Oh well, that was smaller than I thought it would be. Take my word for it: omelet station.
Om has arrived in Cupertino and is dodging over-caffeinated reporters and Apple employees, looking for a seat at Apple’s Town Hall, where the company has held numerous events over the years. He’ll report in shortly.
















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