Gizmodo: wwdc2008

The Ars and Giz WWDC Party Was a Good Time

Brian Lam — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:44:50 EDT

Things went well last night at the Giz and Ars WWDC party. So well, I woke up a little late this morning. If you came, thank you for making it an event full of wonderful, beautiful people. Yes, you too, mysterious ponytail man wearing an Apple shirt! All 7 of you. I met lots of great devs, but there were some people I saw who I didn't get a chance to say hello to like Leah Culver of Pownce, iJustine and Jordan Golson and Megan McCarthy, of ValleyWag fame. Here are some photos, courtesy of commenter BossKev and his amazing Nikon D3 DSLR. (WANT.) Jacqui and Clint from Ars have some photos up on their page, but If you've got extra photos, let me know and I'll put em in the gallery. Nutbastard: thanks for covering my bar tip and making the drive to hang out. [Ars and more from Flickr user Cirne]

WWDC Keynote In 60 Seconds

Mark Wilson — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:20:00 EDT

While I'm, of course, a little partial to my own recent Apple keynote mash-up, this clip is an excellent summary of WWDC 2008 in 60 seconds (or just enough time to turn up those speakers while the boss is in the bathroom). I was there and actually remembered some moments I'd forgotten, so it's probably worth a fanboy perusal. [Mahalo via CrunchGear]

Steve Jobs Looked Thinner Than Usual at WWDC—So What?

Jason Chen — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:00:00 EDT

One of the first things we noticed when Steve Jobs came out on stage was that he was noticeably thinner than he was in previous events. We were vaguely concerned since he's had a recent history of what could be considered pretty severe health problems, but it looks like it's just a "common bug" says Apple PR. At age 53, he honestly looks fitter than we are now, probably because he doesn't spend 23 hours a day with his ass attached to some sort of surface. Maybe it was that vomit+diarrhea virus that was going around Moscone a month ago. Either way, lots of people make a big deal out of Steve's appearance because he's perceived as so important to the company. So that's what the fuss is about by the press. [WSJ]

iPhone 3G in Black or White?

Brian Lam — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:39:36 EDT

While not all of us at Giz (read: none) like the white iPhone 3G, I'm sure some of you might. So feel free to vote for your favorite non-color here. Not like it matters. Hit it, MJ!

Link: sevenload.com

If
You're Thinkin' About My Baby
It Don't Matter If You're Black Or White

I Said If
You're Thinkin' Of
Being My Baby
It Don't Matter If You're Black Or White

I Said If
You're Thinkin' Of
Being My Brother
It Don't Matter If You're
Black Or White

No, no , alright

Ooh, Ooh
Alright
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah Now
Alright , alright
Ooh, Ooh
Shomon
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah Now
Alright
Ooh, Ooh

Ed. Note: I actually like the white one! – JC

iPhone 3G: Complete Coverage

Jesus Diaz — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:55:00 EDT

Want to know everything about the iPhone 3G? You can click here to access all our stories or access all the launch stories using this index.

The event
• Our complete event liveblog
• Steve on video, doing his thing
• iPhone 3G advertising

The iPhone 3G
• Our iPhone 3G Hands On
• iPhone availability

Pricing and availability
• Pricing and activation in the US
• International availability
• AT&T memo regarding iPhone sales policies
• Upgrading policy

Software and applications
• iPhone 2.0 Operating System for iPhone and iPod touch
• The iPhone Applications Store and featured apps
• GPS, traffic and photo geotagging
• iPhone 3G and Mobile Me services

Giz Explains
•What You Didn't Know About the iPhone's 3G Powers
•Everything You Wanted to Know About the iPhone 3G's GPS

Opinion
• Apple Says White Is Cool Again... But Is It?
• What the iPhone is missing

Other
• iPhone Sim Ejector Tool makes it instant must-buy
• "iPhone 3G" FCC Application Hints at Potential Apple "Smartphone"
• Rumor check

• iPhone 3G Videoconferencing Kit

Participation
• Are you going to get the iPhone 3G?

Tonight: Have a Drink on Giz and Ars Technica at WWDC 2008

Brian Lam — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:21:14 EDT

Hey there. We're throwing a WWDC party with our BFFs at Ars Technica tonight. So if you're going to be at WWDC as a reader, developer, journalist or just another fanboy, I'd like to invite you to come have a beer on us. Hope you can make it.

8-11pm

Harlot
46 Minna Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
[Upcoming]

Steve Jobs Explains OS X Snow Leopard in Three Easy Steps

Jason Chen — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:03:18 EDT

The NY Times has a good interview with Steve Jobs in which Apple's CEO lets fly with very quotable, very understandable quotes about OS X 10.6. We already heard the details, but it was still hard to wrap our head around why Apple would make an operating system without many visible features and just go and change architecture around. He explains that they're doing it because programmers don't know WTF is going on with parallel processing.

The way the processor industry is going is to add more and more cores, but nobody knows how to program those things. I mean, two, yeah; four, not really; eight, forget it.

Jobs claims that Apple's made a "breakthrough" in parallel-programming called Grand Central, which he alluded to in his keynote yesterday. He didn't, however, go into details about how it works and why it's going to revolutionize dividing up tasks into multiple processors in ways that other operating systems haven't yet.

What's also interesting is the ability to bring the GPU (your graphics card) into the processing role to help out your CPU. Apple's calling this newly proposed standard OpenCL (Open Compute Library).

Basically it lets you use graphics processors to do computation. It’s way beyond what Nvidia or anyone else has, and it’s really simple.

It's vaguely similar to the way that Photoshop CS 4 will use your graphics card to help process image manipulation and help out in rendering 3D models as well.

Will there be more features like Time Machine? Not according to Jobs.
3.

“We’ve added over a thousand features to Mac OS X in the last five years,” he said Monday in an interview after his presentation. “We’re going to hit the pause button on new features.”

Seems to us that Snow Leopard won't be heavy on the features, but it will increase processing speeds for people who are heavy on the processing in their daily computing and have more than just a few cores—a place we're all heading to in the next few years. [NYT]

iPhone 3G Rumor Accuracy Check: We Were Right(ish)!

Kit Eaton — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:40:00 EDT

Last Friday, we rounded up and judged the most colorful iPhone 3G rumors floating around the tubes. Now that Steve has spilled the beans, I bet you're curious as to how accurate our thinking was. Turns out we were pretty much on target with our verdicts.

• iPhone 2 to be 22% thinner. We called this one unlikely, since you'd have to ditch some of the cool stuff inside to do it. And guess what? With even more cool stuff inside, the iPhone 3G is actually a tiny .02-inches thicker, though you'd hardly notice.

• Better battery, more RAM. Darnit. We called more RAM as likely, but Apple pulled a techno magic rabbit out of the hat and made the battery last longer despite the added tech.

• GPS function on board. We said this could indeed be true, and Apple obliged by giving us built-in GPS and even demonstrating some location-based apps. Hoorah, now somebody please give me turn-by-turn navigation.

• Squarer shape. We said "why mess with a winning design" and largely Apple didn't. In fact, the 3G is a little curvier.

• Front-facing camera, mobile TV. Calling the front-facing cam "reasonably likely" was off target, since the Jesusphone 3G doesn't have one. Does that disappoint you, video-chat callers? As we guessed, mobile TV was a no too.

• US low-end iPhone to cost $200. Kevin Rose turned out to be bang on target! Bless him.

• Spain to get €100 iPhone 2, UK to get £100 version. Our contacts said that the €100 figure wasn't right at the time, and final pricing schemes weren't going to be announced yet. But some lucky O2 customers in the UK will be able to get one free. Free! Good grief.

• iPhone to ship first week of July. We said this was possible, but our sources suggested sooner. Well, the 11th is not technically the first week of July, is it?

• Quanta using FedEx to move huge numbers of iPhones. We said "anything's possible," and it is... whatever FedEx was moving about may have been iPhone 3Gs, but they haven't surfaced yet.

• iPhone 2 games to cost upwards of $27. "Understandable" we said, though we noted that developers are free to set their own prices on games. And yesterday that price seemed to be $9.95. Maybe we'll see some premium stuff cost more, if it takes more effort to develop.

Things we missed? The white version was a pleasant surprise, and the addition of contact search and bulk email delete was way overdue.

There you have it. The truth is out there now, and it seems that we were reasonably accurate in our judgments. You can count on Giz. [Gizmodo's iPhone 3G Coverage]

"iPhone 3G" FCC Application Hints at Potential Apple "Smartphone"

Jesus Diaz — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:10:00 EDT

Washington D.C. (Agencies) - Confidential FCC documents unearthed today by internet blog Intomobile point out at the possibility of Apple releasing a new secret device which some experts think could be a "smartphone." The new gadget—which was submitted for FCC approval in June 1, 2008—apparently has a big "touch" screen, as well as the ability to play music and communicate to other people using your own voice. According to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, this "iPhone 3G" machine can also access web portals at what he referred to as "really high speeds."

Asked about what that meant, Mr. Munster further clarified his statement as "a whole lot. You know, like, zing!" It is still unclear when this new Mac device will appear in the marketplace, but Mr. Munster is confident that it will be soon: "Timing of this is difficult to determine, but we would expect it sometime in 2008. Day up, day down, you know, but around there."

The documents discovered today indicate that Apple may use a radio transmitter that complies with a standard called HSDPA or "High-Speed Downlink Packet Access." According to Gizmodo's Editor-in-Chief Brian Lam "HSDPA could really give us high data transfers, potentially around 7.2mbps. Yeah, 7.2. That's a lot of zing!" Mr. Lam also indicated that he suspected the new Apple device may have other advanced features like email, a travel system designed to guide you to different destinations, and "possibly an alarm clock."

Apple didn't return calls for comment.

[FCC via Into Mobile]

Apple Says White Is Cool Again... But Is It?

Benny Goldman — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:37:35 EDT

In an otherwise surprise-free keynote today, one without booms or "one more thing"s, one bit of news stood out: White made a quiet return to the iPod family in the premium 16GB iPhone 3G. Sure, it never fully left Apple—remaining the default color for earbuds, plugs, power bricks, AirPort products and the cheapest MacBooks—but we were finally getting used to a world without white iPods. Does this mean after nine short months put out to the pastures, white is already retro-cool again?

This time around, white won't be for everybody. Once the staple color of the iPod revolution, white will be a statement for those bold enough to sport a phone that bright. It's incredible; when Jobs dropped a little black on the masses, we thought that was radical, but eventually accepted it as the norm. When most Apple products went brushed-aluminum, we were again stunned, but now we think nothing of it. Today white, the color that we accepted from the beginning, is back, this time on an iPhone, and it looks like the most far-out Apple product yet.

Will the return of white in the iPhone set a pattern for the iPod touch, classic, and others? Will white be the new, well, white, taking back the reins as the most popular color? Will the color make its way back to Apple's high-style MacBook Air? Can Jobs, Jonathan Ive and the Cupertino crew keep us on our toes forever by recycling the same three finishes? Most importantly, are you a person that's bold enough to rock this flamboyant new phone? I, for one, am not. [Apple]

Full Stevenote Video Online Now

matt buchanan — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:49:13 EDT

In case our liveblog didn't make you feel enough like you were there, you can get a step closer or (just re-live the glory) with the freshly posted video of the entire Stevenote. [Apple]

Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard Revealed: Multi-Core Optimized, GPU Lovin' OS Upgrade Due In One Year

Wilson Rothman — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:37:38 EDT

Yep, you heard right: Apple showed off the OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, due out in a year, to the attendees at WWDC, and let some details slip to the public, including:
• Optimization for multi-core processors
• GPU friendly (actually GPU utilization of highly parallel tasks generally done on a CPU)
• Supports "breakthrough" amounts of RAM—16TB to be precise
• New "modern" QuickTime X platform
• Safari with 53% faster JavaScript implementation
Yes, as we've heard, this is a lot less about cool user features and more about boots-on-the-ground stability—or in Apple SVP for Software Engineering's words, "perfecting the world's most advanced OS." There's no mention of continuing PowerPC support, but then again, there's no word about discontinuing it, either. Here's more from the horse's, I mean, predatory feline's mouth. Update: The official Snow Leopard site is live.

Apple Previews Mac OS X Snow Leopard to Developers

SAN FRANCISCO, June 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today previewed Mac OS(R) X Snow Leopard, which builds on the incredible success of OS X Leopard and is the next major version of the world's most advanced operating system. Rather than focusing primarily on new features, Snow Leopard will enhance the performance of OS X, set a new standard for quality and lay the foundation for future OS X innovation. Snow Leopard is optimized for multi-core processors, taps into the vast computing power of graphic processing units (GPUs), enables breakthrough amounts of RAM and features a new, modern media platform with QuickTime(R) X. Snow Leopard includes
out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 and is scheduled to ship in about a year.

"We have delivered more than a thousand new features to OS X in just seven years and Snow Leopard lays the foundation for thousands more," said Bertrand Serlet, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering. "In our continued effort to deliver the best user experience, we hit the pause button on new features to focus on perfecting the world's most advanced operating system."

Snow Leopard delivers unrivaled support for multi-core processors with a new technology code-named "Grand Central," making it easy for developers to create programs that take full advantage of the power of multi-core Macs. Snow Leopard further extends support for modern hardware with Open Computing Language (OpenCL), which lets any application tap into the vast gigaflops of GPU computing power previously available only to graphics applications. OpenCL is based on the C programming language and has been proposed as an open standard. Furthering OS X's lead in 64-bit technology, Snow Leopard raises the software limit on system memory up to a theoretical 16TB of RAM.

Using media technology pioneered in OS X iPhone(TM), Snow Leopard introduces QuickTime X, which optimizes support for modern audio and video formats resulting in extremely efficient media playback. Snow Leopard also includes Safari(R) with the fastest implementation of JavaScript ever, increasing performance by 53 percent, making Web 2.0 applications feel more responsive.*

For the first time, OS X includes native support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 in OS X applications Mail, iCal(R) and Address Book, making it even easier to integrate Macs into organizations of any size.

*Performance will vary based on system configuration, network connection and other factors. Benchmark based on the SunSpider JavaScript Performance test on an iMac(R) 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system running Mac OS X Snow Leopard, with 2GB of RAM.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its
award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

3G iPhone Hands On

Brian Lam — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:50:00 EDT

In my hand, the 3G iPhone is lighter, fits better, and noticeably thinner feeling as it doesn't have the same squarish shape. (You won't notice that it is thicker at all.) I made a call with it, side by side with my 1st generation iPhone, and the reception is noticeably better as well. I can't even believe this is frigging AT&T anymore. I'd called Lisa and asked her if she noticed if it was clearer or not. She replied, "It's a lot better, but it's also better that you're actually calling me." A tough crowd.

The reception increase is partly to do with the new plastic back. There are 10 radio bands in here, counting 3 GSM bands, 4 3G bands, and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. (And one more I don't know?) I don't know how scratch resistant I believe it will be, but Apple says it will be more durable. It looks EXACTLY like the leaked images from awhile ago that were chalked up as iPhone 1 cases.

Apple wouldn't say why 3G life was so good, but I picked up a hint that it was both software and newer 3G chips up to the task.

3G data on the maps and browser were only slightly slower than Wi-Fi.

The locator tech wasn't working for me, on Maps. It spun and spun, probably because I'd turned the Wi-Fi off.
I noticed that the iPhone asked me for permission to give both the maps program and the camera app permission to use my location. It reminded me a bit of a Vista security prompt. It's my phone, of course it can use my location. The camera app was actually using it to do geotagging!

(The camera itself was not noticeably improved.)

The black is very very nice. The white? It's ok, but very feminine, so maybe it's good for Jason or Jesús.

I felt the screen wasn't as smooth as the previous, but that could be the fact that there was zero grease on it, unlike my personal phone. The screen's glass and LCD are identical to the previous iPhone's.

There still isn't any cut and paste, and Bluetooth software hasn't been updated to do A2DP, but the very smooth (and impossible to derail from Apple Messaging) Greg Joswiak didn't say the hardware wasn't improved. I asked if audio streaming was coming, and he looked hesitant to answer. (I'll take that as a yes.) Before he could answer, I spoke for him. "We don't comment on future product announcements." They also denied me a chance to take a photo.

There was a dock, very thin and rounded, with the phone sticking out of the face (there was no border from the dock obscuring the view. I also saw a 2 prong USB power plug much smaller than the old adapter.

Lastly, the metal buttons were chromed, and I frankly liked the black ones better. But these feel more precise, and indeed, the lock button is slightly more recessed than on the first generation phone. The buttons were not made metal for durability reasons, either; this was a pure design decision.

I also played Super Monkey Ball during my 15 minutes with the iPhone. I didn't like how to control the game, I had to set the screen to viewing angles that would compromise my view of the screen. But I did catch on how to play within a few seconds.

Audio? It was definitely clearer than the single mono speaker in the first iPhone. (Even if this one is not stereo either.)

Nothing much has been left unimproved. If you're going to stick with ATT for awhile, $200 seems like a good deal for such improved hardware. What's cool is that since the App store and a lot of the functionality in software will be coming to the first gen iPhone, current users don't really have to feel the pressure to upgrade. Me? I'm certainly going to.

iPhone 3G Pricing and Activation Details: $30 Unlimited Data, Activated In Store Only

matt buchanan — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:36:40 EDT

We just talked to AT&T's President of National Distribution Glenn Lurie, who gave us all the pricing and activation details for the iPhone 3G, which won't be getting special treatment anymore. It will be using all AT&T's standard voice and data plans, which means $30 for unlimited 3G data for consumers, $45 for business users, on top of voice. Also, no in-home activation for iPhone 3G—it does require a two-year contract, and it will have to be activated in store (at AT&T or Apple Store), which takes 10-12 minutes, meaning that first day line is going to SUCK. And you will have to camp out, since there won't be any online ordering at launch—and Glenn was mum on how many phones there'd be to go around. Updates below.

Supposedly the network will be ready, even if the supply won't be. I asked him four different ways if it was ready for the onslaught of millions of 3G data phones and he said "absolutely" each time, and that they've planned for it. What's unclear is how many units they've planned for the first day. He said they expected "high" demand but nobody knows what the "full demand" will be, in response to my question about meeting demand.

For people who care about the business end of things, the other way that the iPhone 3G isn't special in regards to AT&T anymore is that AT&T subsidizing it like any other phone means that the old revenue-sharing program is out. Basically, other than letting Apple sell and activate the iPhone 3G at Apple Stores, the model is the same they have with everyone else, like RIM or Sammy. More details on everything will be coming from AT&T in the next week or so.

Update: Interesting point from Apple Gazette about ending Apple ending revenue-sharing with AT&T—it means we might have to pay for future feature updates to the iPhone 3G since Apple won't be getting those monthly checks, thanks to those "accounting purposes." Obviously we don't know for sure yet. Besides, SDK might make it a moot point.

Update 2: David alerts us to this bit from Dow Jones' report: "AT&T and Apple are working on a form of penalty for users who don't activate their iPhone within 30 days of purchase." Whoa. Guess that'll cut down on unlockers, eh?

Update 3: Looks like AT&T's dropping the GoPhone plan for the iPhone 3G too. Also, it's been pointed out Apple is still counting its revenue for the phone over the course of two years despite dumping revenue-sharing with AT&T, so iPhoners can probably continue to lord free updates over iPod touchers. [AT&T]

The 3G iPhone Is Official, July 11th Starting at $199

Mark Wilson — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:20:07 EDT

Just now at WWDC, Steve Jobs confirmed the long-rumored iPhone 3G, which is what he actually called it. It hits stores in the US and over 70 other countries on July 11th. Here it will costs $199 for the 8GB version, and $299 for the 16GB one (in black and white).

Here are the additional key details, plus the official press release from Apple:

Key Features:
Charcoal Back
Solid Metal Buttons
Same 3.5" Display
Camera
Flush Headphone Jack
Dramatically Improved Audio

3G Advantage
Showing a EDGE vs 3G comparison loading a webpage, 3G took 21 seconds. EDGE...waiting...waiting...uhh...59 seconds! Same phone, same location. 2.8X faster - and they claim loads webpages faster than Nokia N95 (33 seconds) or Treo 750 (34 seconds).

Battery Life
10 hours 2G talk time
5 hours 3G talk time
5-6 hours of high-speed browsing
24 hours of audio playback

And GPS!

And it's coming to 70 countries over the "next several months."

More Affordable
$199 for 8GB

$299 for 16GB (which also comes in white)

Coming July 11th

Apple Introduces the New iPhone 3G

Twice as Fast at Half the Price

SAN FRANCISCO, June 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today introduced the new iPhone(TM) 3G, combining all the revolutionary features of iPhone with 3G networking that is twice as fast* as the first generation iPhone, built-in GPS for expanded location based mobile services, and iPhone 2.0 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs the hundreds of third party applications already built with the recently released iPhone SDK. In the US the new iPhone 3G is priced at a stunning $199 for the 8GB model, and just $299 for the 16GB model.** iPhone 3G will be available in more than 70 countries later this year, beginning with customer availability in 22 countries — Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US — on July 11.

"Just one year after launching the iPhone, we're launching the new iPhone 3G that is twice as fast at half the price," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "iPhone 3G supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync right out of the box, runs the incredible third party apps created with the iPhone SDK, and will be available in more than 70 countries around the world this year."

iPhone 3G gives users ever faster access to the Internet and email over their cellular network with quad-band GSM and tri-band HSDPA for voice and data connectivity around the world. iPhone 3G supports Wi-Fi, 3G and EDGE
networks and automatically switches between them to ensure the fastest possible download speeds. The new iPhone 3G also makes it easier to multi-task with simultaneous voice and data communications, so with iPhone 3G you can browse the web, get map directions, or check your email while you are on a call.

iPhone 3G includes the new iPhone 2.0 software with both the iPhone SDK and key enterprise features such as support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to provide over-the-air push email, contact and calendar syncing as well as remote wipe and Cisco IPsec VPN for encrypted access to corporate networks. The iPhone SDK allows developers to create amazing applications that leverage the iPhone's groundbreaking Multi-Touch(TM) user interface, animation technology, accelerometer and GPS technology on the world's most advanced mobile platform.

iPhone 3G includes the new App Store, providing iPhone users with native applications in a variety of categories including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. The App Store on iPhone works over cellular networks and Wi-Fi, which means it is accessible from just about anywhere, so you can purchase and download applications wirelessly and start using them instantly. Some applications are even free and the App Store notifies you when application updates are available. The App Store will be available in 62 countries at launch.

Additional features available with the iPhone 2.0 software include the ability to do real-time mapping and track your progress with GPS technology, mass move and delete multiple email messages, search for contacts, access a new scientific calculator, turn on parental control restrictions for specified content, save images directly from a web page or email them to your iPhone and easily transfer them back to your photo library on your Mac(R) or PC. iPhone 3G delivers an amazing 10 hours of talk time on 2G networks and 5 hours using 3G, with up to 5 to 6 hours of web browsing, up to 7 hours for video playback and up to 24 hours for audio playback.

iPhone 3G takes advantage of MobileMe(TM), a new Internet service that pushes email, contacts, and calendars from an online "cloud" to native applications on iPhone, iPod(R) touch, Macs and PCs. With MobileMe email, messages are pushed instantly to iPhone, removing the need to manually check email and wait for downloads, and push keeps contacts and calendars continuously up-to-date so changes made on one device are automatically updated on other devices. With iPhone, you can even snap a photo and post it directly to a MobileMe Gallery to share with friends and family.

iPhone 3G will be available in the US on July 11 for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 8GB model and $299 (US) for the 16GB model in both Apple and AT&T's retail stores and requires a new two year contract with AT&T for qualifying customers. iPhone 2.0 software will be available on July 11 as a free software update via iTunes(R) 7.7 or later for all iPhone customers. For further information about iPhone 3G pricing and availability in the US and internationally, visit http://www.apple.com/iphone.

* Based on 3G and EDGE testing. Actual speeds vary by site conditions.

** Based on iPhone 3G (8GB) and first generation iPhone (8GB) purchases. Requires new two year AT&T rate plan, sold separately.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh.
Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its
award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple's PR website (http://www.apple.com/pr/), or call Apple's Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042.

(C) 2008 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, iPhone, Multi-Touch, MobileMe, iPod and iTunes are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Video: iPhone 3G Ad Reveals Apple's Secret-Keeping Protocols

matt buchanan — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:27:27 EDT

Did anyone else let out a Darth Vader scream when Steve said July 11? Sorry to mix movie metaphors here, but the new commercial makes me want to go all Mission: Impossible Tom Cruise and break into Apple's high-security bunker, dangling from a rope above a grid of lasers to snatch it early, because July 11 is soooo far away. The new iPhone 3G commercial may reveal a weakness in their defenses:

[Apple]

Video: iPhone GPS, Live Tracking, Traffic, and Geotagging

matt buchanan — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:40:36 EDT

The 3G iPhone's second most persistently rumored and desired feature (or not), GPS is built in for location service hotness, which Steve says is "gonna explode." Location data comes from a combo of cell towers, Wi-Fi and GPS. Google Maps is still the default interface. Wilson says that's it's probable Telenav will do an SDK app with more advanced GPS sorcery though. Updated with video, which shows live tracking, local search, live traffic info and turn-by-turn navigation.

Though not mentioned onstage or in the press release, photo geotagging is listed on the new specs page under the camera and photos section. Neato. Remaining question: What's it do to that otherwise nice battery life? I wonder if those GPS makers are still in fact shitting themselves right now. Update: Yep. [Giz@WWDC, Apple]

Confirmed: Mac OS 10.6 Is Snow Leopard

matt buchanan — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:15:56 EDT

OS 10.6 is called Snow Leopard, straight from Steve's mouth. Developers will get their first peek "after lunch." What about poor bloggers? [WWDC08 @ Giz]

Apple WWDC Liveblog Coverage

Jason Chen — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:30:00 EDT

We're at Moscone Center now, and the place is buzzing. If you want this in another language, click on one of Gizmodo's international affiliates above—you know, those little letters in top right corner of the homepage. They're simultaneously liveblogging this in their native languages. Our liveblog is here. Click and enjoy.

Jason Chen:

8:24 am ON Jun 9 2008

We’re here, inside Moscone center, waiting in line for the doors to lift up and the Apple security guard to usher us in. We’re still an hour and a half away from opening, but the snacks should hold us over until then.

B. Lam:

8:24 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

8:24 am ON Jun 9 2008

The two banners we see are iPhone SDK: Let’s see what develops, and App Store: Something Something (I can’t see from my comfortable seat). Pics in a sec.

Jason Chen:

8:29 am ON Jun 9 2008

Get comfortable. We’ll be here for a while. If you’ve got comments, throw them here.

Jason Chen:

8:34 am ON Jun 9 2008

You see that image Brian posted earlier of the developers going up the escalator? See if you can count the women in that picture. COUNT THEM.

B. Lam:

8:34 am ON Jun 9 2008

Earlier this morning, I saw Apple PR doing a team huddle. Kind of cute.

Jason Chen:

8:38 am ON Jun 9 2008

It was very cute. Like a team of furry ferrets clawing at each other, but, you know, cute.

Jason Chen:

8:42 am ON Jun 9 2008

Here’s our prediction, and we’ve got 2 to 1 odds on Coldplay showing up at the end of the show, pimping their new album live. LIVE. No John Mayer today…we don’t think.

Jason Chen:

8:50 am ON Jun 9 2008

In case you’re one of the people who hasn’t turned on a TV in the past week or so, Apple’s new iTunes ad with Coldplay can be seen here. I can’t blame you, seeing as the TV season’s already ended and all we’ve got is reality shows and reruns. Boy, that Lost finale was really good, wasn’t it?

B. Lam: >

8:51 am ON Jun 9 2008

It’s getting crowded here. Mike Arrington and Matt Hickey from Techcrunch are here and so are Ryan and Jesse from Engadget. Back hurts a little from lugging the new EOS I’ve got. Very big camera! Hopefully the shots comeput nice and it’s worth the trouble.

Jason Chen:

8:55 am ON Jun 9 2008

Hey guys, John Mayer here. Are you guys excited? I’ve just commandeered the computer of my good friend, Jason Chen, who is also very very handsome. That means a lot coming from a guy like me. My other friend, Moby, is also here. Have you guys seen him? He’s really into technology. I love that guy. OK back to Jason.

B. Lam:

9:00 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

9:01 am ON Jun 9 2008

Brian just said it smells like a San Francisco bus in here. I agree. It’s a mixture of sweat, urine, desperation, more urine, just a little feces, saliva, Apple fever, bald dudes, a cupful more of urine, and urine.

Jason Chen:

9:04 am ON Jun 9 2008

Some of the commenters reminded me that I was still watching Battlestar Galactica. YES. It’s also fantastic. I don’t think I’d be the only one that would be happy if Steve announced that he was ditching the 3G iPhone in favor of announcing a real live Number Six model. Now there’s something we wouldn’t mind having a 2-year contract with.

Jason Chen:

9:07 am ON Jun 9 2008

Imagine the Hulk (the WWF/WWE wrestler, not the Marvel character) with a Hulk body, but a baby’s head. There’s a guy here in line that looks just like that.

Jason Chen:

9:10 am ON Jun 9 2008

Speaking of men with baby heads, our buddy from WordPress reminds us of Man Babies.

Jason Chen:

9:16 am ON Jun 9 2008

OK. Prediction time. Give your top 3 products and services to be announced today.

Jason Chen:

9:20 am ON Jun 9 2008

Ours: 3G iPhone, .Mac renamed, and Chris Martin from Coldplay being named head of hardware design. Give yours here.

Jason Chen:

9:29 am ON Jun 9 2008

We’re all bunched up now in anticipation of the gates opening and us going in. Laptops are going back in our bags and I’m typing this from the iPhone.

Jason Chen:

9:40 am ON Jun 9 2008

DOORS ARE OPENING. Broadcast going in first, but the nicely air conditioned breeze that’s flowing out is fantastic. It alleviates a little of that urine smell.

B. Lam:

9:46 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

9:47 am ON Jun 9 2008

We’re in! A quarter of an hour left until the event starts. That’s four songs left on the playlist. If experience is any indication, one of them HAS to be Coldplay.

B. Lam:

9:50 am ON Jun 9 2008

B. Lam:

9:52 am ON Jun 9 2008

Mossberg rolling in the box seats!

Jason Chen:

9:54 am ON Jun 9 2008

There are two iMacs on stage. I can’t see the screen detail carefully to tell whether it’s regular Leopard or the Snow variety. Expect lots of OS talk today (but you knew that).

Jason Chen:

9:56 am ON Jun 9 2008

Mossface is so beyond the normal level of tech writers that he eschews the normal Media badge for a VIP badge. In 157 years, when we’re his age, we hope to be awarded the same courtesies. Plus major discounts at IHOP.

B. Lam: >

9:59 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason: PLEASE do not make age references about a man with more frigging energy than you and I put together. OFF LIMITS until you can do 8 hours plus of back to back live interviews ala D conference!

Jason Chen:

10:01 am ON Jun 9 2008

Speaking of VIPs, AL GORE! Steve’s personal friend and Oprah-esque weight fluctuator. I’m expecting lots of cheering from Al when Steve talks about making everything more eco-friendly.

B. Lam:

10:01 am ON Jun 9 2008

B. Lam:

10:03 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

10:03 am ON Jun 9 2008

People were standing and gawking at the back for some reason. Was it Coldplay? I couldn’t see.

Jason Chen:

10:05 am ON Jun 9 2008

OK, so no Coldplay this time in the playlist. It’s filled with 50s music, including Great Balls.

Jason Chen:

10:06 am ON Jun 9 2008

Lights are dimming, and we’re getting ready to start.

Jason Chen:

10:06 am ON Jun 9 2008

Steve Jobs comes on stage to massive applause from the developers and the rest of the Apple staff. He looks a lot thinner than last time we saw him.

B. Lam: >

10:07 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

10:07 am ON Jun 9 2008

Steve thanks everyone for coming, and says they’ve actually sold out WWDC and couldn’t find a bigger venue to hold this. Over 1000 Apple engineers on site to interact with developers. “It’s going to be one of the best WWDCs ever.”

Jason Chen:

10:09 am ON Jun 9 2008

Steve is pulling out the chair analogy. He shows a stool with three legs, Mac, Music and iPhone. (Not sure what happened to the fourth leg). He also said that after lunch, developers will get a sneak peek at Snow Leopard (10.6).

B. Lam: >

10:09 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

10:09 am ON Jun 9 2008

Apple’s started the iPhone SDK developer program 95 days ago, and had 250,000 kits downloaded, 25,000 apply to the program, and 4,000 admitted to the program.

Jason Chen:

10:10 am ON Jun 9 2008

There are 3 parts of the iPhone 2.0 software. Enterprise, SDK, and new features. We’ll start with the Enterprise (that we saw at the last event).

Jason Chen:

10:11 am ON Jun 9 2008

Microsoft Exchange, Cisco’s VPN, and various other security options demanded by the enterprise have been built in (says Jobs). 35% of the Fortune 500 has taken part in the beta program with the iPhone’s enterprise features.

Jason Chen:

10:14 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jobs is rolling a video of their enterprise customers trying out the iPhone’s enterprise features. Disney, the Army, and various other companies’ IT teams are talking about how many people they’ve got on the iPhone, how many apps they made, blah blah blah. You don’t really care about this.

Jason Chen:

10:16 am ON Jun 9 2008

Next up, SDK. Scott Forestall is coming out to show off the new apps in the SDK.

Jason Chen:

10:17 am ON Jun 9 2008

“With the SDK, we’re opening up the same tools we’re using internally…” Keep in mind that a lot of this talk is going to be for developers.

Jason Chen: >

10:18 am ON Jun 9 2008

The iPhone’s OS X shares a lot of things in common with regular OS X, including stuff like Bonjour and SQLite (a light database). Other stuff like hardware accelerated OpenGL ES and positional audio are in there as well. Cocoa Touch APIs let people access the touch and accelerometer features.

10:18 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

10:19 am ON Jun 9 2008

Xcode, Interface Builder and iPhone Simulator are the apps you to code, debug and test the programs you want to run on iPhone. There’s also Instruments, which lets you “measure and optimize your application to get the absolute best performance from it.” Scott is going to demonstrate how you construct your interface in Interface Builder.

Jason Chen:

10:21 am ON Jun 9 2008

He’s working with Xcode to import in APIs, then Interface Builder to drag on buttons and UI items.

Jason Chen:

10:22 am ON Jun 9 2008

We’ve actually got an AC connection for the first time this time, so we don’t need to worry about hot-swapping batteries in the middle of an important segment. Woo!

B. Lam:

10:24 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

10:25 am ON Jun 9 2008

Easy! His sample app is a contact searching app. Using location-based services (a new feature!) he filters contacts to only people who are within miles of his current location. This may or may not mean a GPS is coming. We’ll see. It’s doable using the current location program (the Twitter client Twinkle does this already).

B. Lam: >

10:26 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

10:26 am ON Jun 9 2008

Apple asked what developers thought of the SDK so far, and he’s showing some quotes. They picked ones with phrases like “breath of fresh air” and “blows them away” and blows away everything we’ve worked with from RIM.”

Jason Chen:

10:27 am ON Jun 9 2008

David Pogue actually said “you’re witnessing the birth of a third major computer platform, Windows, Mac OS X and iPhone.”

B. Lam:

10:27 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

10:28 am ON Jun 9 2008

Now he’s inviting some developers onstage to demo apps. First, is SEGA with Super Monkey Ball.

Jason Chen:

10:29 am ON Jun 9 2008

Ethan Einhorn from SEGA is coming. Their guys were able to build 110 stages, plus all four of the classic monkeys for the final game. All in just 95ish days from the SDK announcement (plus four weeks head start). He’s demonstrating how well the iPhone’s tilt control can handle “pin-point acceleration and turning.” He also says “the tilt control works beautifully.”

Jason Chen:

10:30 am ON Jun 9 2008

The game looks very nice (slightly simpler than Gamecube-esque maybe?) and will be available at the launch of the App store for $9.99.

B. Lam:

10:30 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

10:32 am ON Jun 9 2008

Next up is eBay and their own native application for the iPhone. Ken Sun. Their app is called “Auctions”. The iPhone is already becoming the most popular way to access their auctions from a mobile phone, but a native app looks fast and more customized for the screen than Safari.

B. Lam:

10:33 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

10:33 am ON Jun 9 2008

You can search (he’s searching for Wii Fit), add stuff to your watch list, or even bid for new items. The standard iPhone animations are there, sliding left and right whenever you access an item. There’s even a photo view with a touch strip that you can browse through pictures belonging to auctions.

Jason Chen:

10:34 am ON Jun 9 2008

Next up is Loopt, being demoed by Sam Altman. It’s a social networking tool with location-based services. (I can’t see, but I think the guy is wearing two collared shirts with one of the collars popped.)

B. Lam:

10:36 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

10:36 am ON Jun 9 2008

Their app shows a map which has pins representing your friends and how close they are to you. You can text them, call them, or even just leave a message on the loopt service for her. If she agrees to meet with you for lunch, you can get directions to her location with one click. It will be FREE on the iPhone App Store at launch. Seems neat, and mirrors apps we’ve seen already on phones like Helio’s Ocean.

Jason Chen:

10:37 am ON Jun 9 2008

TypePad is next up, and lets you make blog posts with photos (take one on the fly or choose one you’ve taken). It’s a blogging tool.

B. Lam:

10:38 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

10:39 am ON Jun 9 2008

Functionality-wise, it looks very similar to web-based blogging apps that are already available, except with the picture uploading of course. It will be free at the launch of the App Store.

Jason Chen:

10:41 am ON Jun 9 2008

Even the Associated Press is making their own iPhone application. It’s basically like a news fetching program that knows where you are so it can fetch local newspapers to your phone. Stories are saved on your phone to read offline, and you can flip through photos like Fergie dancing or Chris Rock on the defendant’s chair using the iPhone’s touch screen. There’s even video.

Jason Chen:

10:41 am ON Jun 9 2008

You can even send in news tips to the AP if you want to give them a first-person account of whatever it is you’re seeing. Mark would have found this useful when he was caught in a tornado and almost died yesterday.

B. Lam:

10:42 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

10:42 am ON Jun 9 2008

Brian Greenstone from Pangaea Software (they make Mac games) is also here, showing two games.

Jason Chen:

10:43 am ON Jun 9 2008

The first is a physics-based puzzle game called Enigmo. In the demo app you want to get water into a container via a reflector. I’ve played this on the Mac and it’s actually a lot of fun. The calculations inside the game are pretty damn CPU intensive, and from what we see the iPhone can handle it fine.

Jason Chen:

10:44 am ON Jun 9 2008

Their second game is Cromag Ralley, a 3D caveman racing game. Think Mario Kart with neanderthals.

B. Lam:

10:44 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

10:45 am ON Jun 9 2008

Porting the games from OS X to the iPhone only took 3 days to get “up and running”, which means playable. The iPhone is the steering wheel in this racing game, and has the graphical level of a N64 game. Speeds look great, and runs pretty damn fluid for a mobile phone game.

Jason Chen:

10:45 am ON Jun 9 2008

Both these games will be on the App store at launch for $9.99.

Jason Chen:

10:46 am ON Jun 9 2008

Cromag and Enigmo, if you want to play around with it now on your Mac.

Jason Chen:

10:47 am ON Jun 9 2008

A British insurance guy has made an app called Cow Terry that lets people make music on the iPhone. There’s piano, drums, and an automated blues app.

B. Lam:

10:48 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

10:48 am ON Jun 9 2008

All the instruments sound pretty great, and they can all be recorded and mixed together. It’ll hit the App Store in a few weeks (probably not for free).

Jason Chen:

10:49 am ON Jun 9 2008

MLB.com’s Jeremy Schoenherr is showing off “At Bat”, which shows today’s games, stats, and even live game info like who’s on base and what the score is.

B. Lam:

10:50 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

10:50 am ON Jun 9 2008

There’s also real-time video highlights, being added by MLB.com real time to their website in “real time”, minutes after the play’s finished.

Jason Chen:

10:52 am ON Jun 9 2008

Next up is Modality. He’s talking about the medical software company Epocrates, who was on stage last time when Apple introduced the SDK (Hi Dixie!). He’s introducing two new medical apps, one of which is Modality.

Jason Chen:

10:53 am ON Jun 9 2008

Modality is for medical students to view body parts and see where everything is. Much more fun than reading this crap in a book.

B. Lam:

10:53 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

10:55 am ON Jun 9 2008

The second medical app is from MIMvista, a company that’s a “leading developer of medical imaging data.” Mark Cain is coming up on stage, showing a CT scan and a PET scan (I’ve no idea what either one does, but I’m no Dr. House).

B. Lam:

10:56 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

10:56 am ON Jun 9 2008

Doctors can flip stuff around and view images from various angles. Pinch, double tap and various other current photo-viewing actions can be used in their app. There’s even on-screen measurement lines you can draw to see, say, how big a tumor is. It disappears when you shake the phone (accelerometer use).

Jason Chen:

10:57 am ON Jun 9 2008

Example use: doctors sharing a patient’s image data to the patient “iPhone to iPhone”, basically letting them take away their photos to show their family. “Look how bad my hernia is!”

B. Lam:

10:59 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

10:59 am ON Jun 9 2008

Digital Legends Entertainment is a developer from Spain that’s made a game that they’ll demo now. Xavier Carrillo Costa and his sexy Spanish accent—very similar to our own Jesus’s—is introducing a 3D game that was ported in 4 days, which looks like Dungeon Siege. No buttons on the screen, but it looks very nice. Dynamic shadow and various other applications are in. The game is still in production and will be available by September. Reminds me a little of God of War as well.

Jason Chen:

11:00 am ON Jun 9 2008

That’s it for the developers. One feature that lots of developers are asking for is notifications for apps that aren’t currently running.

Jason Chen:

11:01 am ON Jun 9 2008

“The wrong solution that some phones jump to is background processes.” The reasons he’s listing is battery life and performance, which both degrade faster when you have something else running in the background.

Jason Chen:

11:02 am ON Jun 9 2008

He’s showing off Windows Mobile and its Task Manager. The iPhone lovers are laughing at this. HA. HA. HA. And clapping. They’re really loving it now.

B. Lam:

11:03 am ON Jun 9 2008

Task managers: Madness. Instead:

Jason Chen:

11:03 am ON Jun 9 2008

Apple’s come up with a “better” solution, which is a Push notification service for all developers. Example: when you’re running an IM app, you’re actively connected to the server. When you’re not running it, the notification service will maintain an IP connection with the server, which will push updates to various apps. Developers can push badges, which tells you how many alerts are waiting, custom alert sounds, and custom textual alerts (like the SMS alert currently).

B. Lam:

11:04 am ON Jun 9 2008

Available in September!

Jason Chen:

11:05 am ON Jun 9 2008

There’s only one persistent connection needed. “It scales.” It’s a unified notification service for all developers. From each notification, you can automatically launch the related app by hitting a button. It works over the air or in Wi-Fi, and will be available in September. Developers will be able to play with it soon.

Jason Chen: >

11:06 am ON Jun 9 2008

Steve’s coming back on stage, talking about new features. The first is Contact Search. Second is full iWork document support. You can LOOK at your iWork documents, but not write. Word, Excel and now Powerpoint are also supported (first two were already in there).

Jason Chen:

11:06 am ON Jun 9 2008

Also coming, bulk delete/move, saving images from an email to your photo library, and a scientific calculator that’s activated by turning the phone into landscape mode.

B. Lam:

11:07 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

11:08 am ON Jun 9 2008

Parental controls (filtering YouTube, Safari, iTunes or Installing Apps). Also filtering “EXPLICIT CONTENT” in the iPod app. Many languages are now added, including Asian languages. Japanese and Chinese has various input types, including the character recognition (drawing on the screen) that we saw in some screenshots a few weeks back.

B. Lam:

11:08 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

11:08 am ON Jun 9 2008

iPhone 2.0 software will be released in early July. FREE for all iPhone owners. $9.95 for iPod Touch owners.

11:08 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

11:10 am ON Jun 9 2008

The App Store icon will automatically tell you when there’s an update for apps you’ve downloaded. Developers keep 70% of the revenues, and will be no charge for free apps. FairPlay DRM will wrap applications.

Jason Chen:

11:10 am ON Jun 9 2008

The App Store will be available in 62 countries. If your app is 10MB or less, you can download it over the cellphone connection, otherwise, Wi-Fi or the iTunes program on your computer.

B. Lam:

11:11 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

11:11 am ON Jun 9 2008

The Enterprise asked for a way to distribute phones that isn’t accessible to other people in the world. They can distribute applications on their own intranet by first authorizing phones on their own network and then distributing it via iTunes.

Jason Chen:

11:13 am ON Jun 9 2008

A third way to distribute apps is Ad Hoc. The example given is a professor teaching how to develop iPhone apps in a class. Developers can be certified, then register 100 iPhones. Afterwards, apps can be thrown around in email and installed willy nilly as long as the phones installing them is part of the 100.

Jason Chen:

11:13 am ON Jun 9 2008

An now, “mobileme”. Looks like the new .Mac! Maybe? Let’s see.

B. Lam:

11:13 am ON Jun 9 2008

Like exchange for the rest of us.

Jason Chen:

11:14 am ON Jun 9 2008

Phil Schiller is on stage, saying mobile me is like “Exchange for the rest of us”. He just called ActiveSync ActiveStink.

B. Lam:

11:14 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

11:14 am ON Jun 9 2008

“Not all of us work in large enterprises,” but will sync your information from up in the cloud down to your device. It works for Macs, PCs and iPhones. It’ll push information up and down keeping stuff up to date all the time. Contacts, calendars AND emails.

Jason Chen:

11:15 am ON Jun 9 2008

If an email gets sent to you on your mobileme account, it’ll be pushed to all 3 types of devices. If you change a contact on your phone, it’ll be reflected to. Same with changing a calendar event. This stuff all works over the air (cellular connection).

Jason Chen:

11:16 am ON Jun 9 2008

It works directly with email, calendar, and whatever native applications you’ve got on Mac and PC. On Mac, it works with iCal, Address Book and Mail. On the PC, it works with Microsoft Outlook.

Jason Chen:

11:17 am ON Jun 9 2008

Apple’s also built a Web 2.0 suite for mobileme (me.com!) and will let you use Email—looks a lot like Mail.app—as well as calendar, address book, photos, and two other apps I can’t see right now.

B. Lam:

11:17 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

11:18 am ON Jun 9 2008

Photos also work over the air, just like mail, address book and calendar. You can upload photos into your mobileme albums (just like .Mac was before). iDisk is also on there (one of the two icons I couldn’t see before), syncing your files and folders.

B. Lam:

11:19 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

11:20 am ON Jun 9 2008

Phil is demoing the mobileme web app. Everything looks very smooth in the Mail application, with drag and drop, and quick reply popup window.

Jason Chen:

11:21 am ON Jun 9 2008

In Address Book, there’s real-time search with narrowing down of entries as you’re typing, as well as Google Maps. The Calendar looks a lot like iCal with its color coding and meeting blocks. Drag and drop works. Gallery (photos) has skimming like in iPhoto and .Mac, thumbnail rescaling, drag and drop, rotate, and sharing.

Jason Chen:

11:22 am ON Jun 9 2008

iDisk is now all online, and you can use it to share files to people without emailing stuff around.

Jason Chen:

11:24 am ON Jun 9 2008

Now Phil’s going through a process of getting an email with a lunch invite, which then loads up Google Maps of the restaurant. He saved the contact of the restaurant on the phone. Now, he goes back to the computer and sees the same email, which got pushed to all his devices with the correct “read” state. He also sees the contact that he created on the phone—the same one he just created—on the computer.

B. Lam:

11:24 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

11:25 am ON Jun 9 2008

Calendar items work the same, being pushed from everywhere onto all your devices. He’s now showing what happens when you move an event on your computer and how it shows up on your iPhone within about 10 seconds.

Jason Chen:

11:26 am ON Jun 9 2008

Photos work exactly the same way too, as Phil is showing off how syncing with that works. I think we get it Phil. “So that’s mobileme.” “It’s like Exchange for the rest of us.”

B. Lam:

11:27 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

11:28 am ON Jun 9 2008

Mobileme is available for $99 a year (like .Mac), and will have a 60 day free trial. 20GB of iDisk space is also included. Mobileme replaces .Mac, like we previously thought. .Mac users can keep using their stuff, but can automatically upgrade to mobileme whenever they want.

Jason Chen:

11:29 am ON Jun 9 2008

Steve Jobs is back on stage, and he’s reminiscing about the iPhone’s launch. In a few weeks it’ll be the iPhone’s first birthday. “This is the phone that has changed phones forever.”

Jason Chen:

11:30 am ON Jun 9 2008

The iPhone has 90% customer satisfaction. 98% of people are browsing. 94% are using email, 90% are text messaging, and 80% are using 10 features or more.

B. Lam:

11:30 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen: >

11:30 am ON Jun 9 2008

In their first year, they’ve sold 6 million iPhones “until they ran out a few weeks ago.” He’s now talking about their “next challenges.”

Jason Chen:

11:32 am ON Jun 9 2008

SO! What are they going to do? “We’re gonna take it to the next level, and today we’re introducing the iPhone 3G.”

B. Lam: >

11:33 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

11:33 am ON Jun 9 2008

“We’ve learned so much with the first iPhone.” He’s pulling out the next iPhone. It’s thinner at the edges, has a full plastic back, solid metal buttons, 3.5-inch display, camera, FLUSH HEADPHONE JACK, and improved audio.

B. Lam:

11:33 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

11:34 am ON Jun 9 2008

How does the iPhone 3G address the problems Steve’s listed earlier? Why would you want 3G? Because EDGE is slow a balls. Comparing the two phones downloaidng a website on EDGE and on 3G, 3G finishes in 21 seconds and EDGE finishes in …

Jason Chen:

11:34 am ON Jun 9 2008

…

Jason Chen:

11:35 am ON Jun 9 2008

59 seconds.

B. Lam:

11:35 am ON Jun 9 2008

B. Lam:

11:35 am ON Jun 9 2008

OH NO HE DIDN’T

Jason Chen:

11:36 am ON Jun 9 2008

2.8X faster. Next to Wi-Fi, which loaded the page in 17 seconds, it’s “amazingly zippy”. Comparing two other 3G phones, one the Nokia N95 and one a Treo 750, which downloads in 33 seconds and 34 seconds respectively. 36% faster.

Jason Chen:

11:36 am ON Jun 9 2008

Now he’s comparing an email attachment downloading the same email attachment in 3G vs. EDGE. 5 seconds vs. 18 seconds.

Jason Chen:

11:38 am ON Jun 9 2008

“We’re doing this with great battery life.” The 3G iPhone’s standby is 300 hours. 2G talk time is up to 10 hours from 8 hours. 3G talk time is 5 hours. (Jobs says other phones have about 3 hours.) Browsing, 5-6 hours of 3G browsing. Video is 7 hours, and audio is 24 hours.

B. Lam:

11:38 am ON Jun 9 2008

B. Lam:

11:38 am ON Jun 9 2008

11:39 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

11:39 am ON Jun 9 2008

GPS is built in. Location services “is going to be a really big deal.” “It’s gonna explode.” They get location data from cell towers, Wi-Fi and GPS. Using GPS data, they can do tracking.jobs is showing someone driving down Lombard street—that really squiggly street in SF—and the dot for his location squiggles around as he’s driving (it’s a recorded video).

B. Lam:

11:40 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

11:40 am ON Jun 9 2008

The second problem gets tackled by Microsoft Exchange and Cisco VPN and various other feature support. Third party applications and SDK takes care of the third issue.

Jason Chen:

11:41 am ON Jun 9 2008

How about more countries? They’ve got 6 countries today, and are expanding to a bunch of countries that I won’t type out right now because it’s going too fast. He’s playing the small world theme. Mexico and Canada are covered, as well as almost all countries in South America.

B. Lam:

11:43 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

11:43 am ON Jun 9 2008

It’s taking forever coloring every single small country in Europe like this. Spain is included, which makes Jesus (Diaz) happy. Lots of African countries now too, as well as Japan. NOT CHINA OR RUSSIA, surprisingly.

Jason Chen:

11:43 am ON Jun 9 2008

Apple will roll out the iPhone 3G in 70 countries in the next several months.

B. Lam:

11:45 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

11:45 am ON Jun 9 2008

That’s it for the fourth problem. How about “more affordable?” An 8GB iPhone started at $599, went to $399, and now is going to sell at $199. (Steve makes a BOOM sound not with his mouth, but with the video). The 8GB model is going to be $199, 16GB will be $299. There’s also going to be a white model. WHITE.

B. Lam:

11:46 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

11:46 am ON Jun 9 2008

July 11 will be the worldwide rollout date. They’ve got a new ad.

Jason Chen:

11:47 am ON Jun 9 2008

Two guys carrying badges carrying a metal box into a locked room, then taking the 3G iPhone out of it. Super neat.

B. Lam:

11:48 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

11:49 am ON Jun 9 2008

Steve Jobs wants the iPhone teams to stand up so everyone can give them a round of applause.

B. Lam:

11:50 am ON Jun 9 2008

Jason Chen:

11:50 am ON Jun 9 2008

Steve’s thanking everyone, telling developers to take advantage of all the WWDC sessions, and he’ll see you guys next week. No one more thing, and no booms from Steve. Lots of booms when he kept dropping the $199 price, however.

Jason Chen:

11:52 am ON Jun 9 2008

That’s it for us! Thanks from me, Brian, Mark, Adrian and John, plus the rest of the team back at Giz covering us from home base. We appreciate you reading, and you should check the Gizmodo front page to see the updates we’ve got there the rest of today. See you all next time!

BoingBoing Gadgets Apple Keynote Song: "The Apple Store is Down"

Brian Lam — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:57:51 EDT

Joel gave me a preview of this song, written about Apple product launches, a few months ago. It's even better in its final form. "Best not make any plans today. The Apple store is down, new shit is on its way." Give it a listen! [Boing Boing Gadgets]

Apple Store Is Down

Best not make any plans today.
The Apple store is down,
new shit is on its way.
A tablet Mac or new SDK.
Doesn't matter,'cause it's Apple, As long as Steve goes slow in the keynote:
"Had a great business year, our future success is clear.

CHORUS

But I have just one more thing to show before I disappear.
And I think it's the most exciting thing that we are gonna launch this year.
Boom it's here."

Listen, Steve, my friends and I
have decided that it's okay that you know (whoa)
that we don't want for you to die.
If it happened the stock would flatten.
So if you go, go slow!
I need a new boat.
"My hair is gone. I'm grizzled gray. Retire you ask? Not today.

CHORUS

'cause I have just one more thing to show before I disappear.
It might be the most important product that we're gonna launch this year.
Boom it's here."

BRIDGE: My head is swimming; my mouth is dry. I hardly can believe that I am worthy to be in this distortion field.

CHORUS

'cause I want just one more thing to own before I disappear.
And my life needs one more thing to glow to add a little cheer.
Oh thank god it's here.