Well the moment has finally arrived, It’s Showtime!. The red carpet is unfurled and Steve Jobs is on stage in the Yerba Buena Center for Arts and Theater. The speculation can finally end.
Edit: I’m curious to hear what you all think of today’s announcements. Here is your chance to rack up some comments for our Race to 2000 in talkback. Our pictures are now added below the drop. (You can see all of them here.)
iPod–
Games for iPod cost $4
Brighter screen and longer battery life
80GB model announced
New prices start at $249
iPod Nano–
24 hour battery life
Five new colors
Up to 8GB capacity (only in black)
Prices remain the same
iPod Shuffle–
1 million sold to date
Completely redesigned
Aluminum case comes with dock
Costs $79
iTunes–
1.5 billion songs sold to date
Now fifth largest music seller in the US
iTunes 7 announced
Separate library for music, podcasts, tv, etc.
Now has auto download for album art
Old jukebox styled browsing of artwork
iTunes TV–
Have now sold 45 million TV shows
Features every major network, 220 different shows represented
Resolution now 640 x 480–4x resolution
Can now synch shows on iPod and auto remove old shows
(Michael Arrington gets escorted to the side for disturbing “civilized press”)
iTunes Movies–
Movies!
75 movies are available online today from Disney, Pixar, Touchstone and Miramax
Future releases to be available same the same day as DVD release
$12.99 first week then $14.99 afterward
Pre-ordered titles cost $12.99
640 x 480 resolution
30 minute downloads, can watch movie as it loads
Old titles $9.99
Same rights apply on movies as on TV shows
Only available in the US until 2007
Same picture-based browsing featured with album art
Mac with iTunes can now take over your living room (all your base are belong to Apple)
Films feature tons of movie data such as actor bios, etc.
(Bob Iger CEO of Disney takes stage)
iTV–
Apple has wireless set top box for TV
Working title is “iTV”
Similar to Mac Mini, but 1/2 the size
Features USB, ethernet, 802.11b/g, component video, optical audio and HDMI
Uses apple remote
Intended as a sort of ultimate media center, allows users to play movies, music, photos, etc. on TV
Works with PC or Mac
Price is $299 available in Q1 2007
One last thing–
John Legend takes stage for performance, Michael Arrington swoons, possibly faints
END
Looks like CG is having some trouble - good coverage on MacWorld:
http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/09/12/showtime/index.php
What did Michael do?! Did he gate crash??
That’s 1.5 B as in BILLION not 1.5 million songs sold.
Loving the coverage.
640×480 - odd, that’s narrowscreen. I guess the 480 will get chopped right down for movies - that’s quite a long way short of DVD, actually.
Nice to see the prices on the nanos will not change. Big props to Apple!
is it only me who is having a feeling that apart from iTV apple hasn’t offered anything new or exciting.. considering the hype around the event… kinda bummer
Thanks for correcting the item. When will see photos?
As soon as MA can find internet access.
yeah. it seems a little bit of a downer, but i guess you take the good with the bad. the iTV is incredible, though. basically sounds like what the mac mini was supposed to be.
MA almost got kicked out, actually. they didn’t want to let him in. but he smoothed things over by promising not to flame Apple lawyers anymore.
I don’t know about you but… I want my iTV!!!!
Thank you for the excellent coverage CrunchGuys!
Nice coverage, but I want to hear more about Arrington almost getting himself 86ed.
hmm, no iphone huh? well, iTV sounds very cool, a lot cheaper than putting minimacs everywhere in the house. nano colors are cool, battery life is definitely appreciated. i like the coverage of MA too.
What gives? No Merom Macbook Pro? That’s all I was looking for… when will they get off their thumbs and update the Macbook Pro! Sure, the iTunes update’s nice, and adding Tetris to an iPod is a huge update, but all I wanted to see was updated Macbook Pro, and they let me down… so sad…
I just got back from the event. Fun stuff. I’ll post an update on techcrunch about the almost getting kicked out thing. Funny.
More details! More details!!
Who actually wrote this post? On TC it says these are Arrington’s “real-time notes”…
Michael SMS’ed to me and I just sort of formatted it.
As a Mac user, I was a bit disappointed in today’s announcements. The updates to the iPod, Nanos and Shuffle; iTunes updates; and the introduction of iTV were positive notes but not groundbreaking. Um, games for the iPod..not so much, especially nostalgic games that have been out on Palms, PocketPCs and mobile phones for years.
I’m rather skeptic on both the Apple and Amazon movie download services due to their strict DRM terms and the inability of burning a copy to DVD-R for playback on a regular DVD Player (with DVD quality). Of course, this is the movie studios own doing, but it could come back to bite them in the @ss. BitTorrent clients will continue to advance and propagate making it harder to pull back consumers into the legal waters. The pricing is still too high especially considering the huge reduction in production, packaging, merchandising and distribution of DVDs. The MPAA should have learned from the lessons with the RIAA and Napster. NetFlix is supposed launch its service in January and have a lot more pull with the studios because of their huge movie-watching user base. Maybe NetFlix can enlighten the studios to the new paradigm.
The mythic widescreen video iPod still eludes us and this absence is compounded by the introduction of movie rental downloads via iTunes. I believe most consumers would want to playback downloads at the 16:9 ratio with the maximum screenspace possible. This missing component could be a real powerplay for Creative’s Zen Vision:W in combination with Amazon or Windows service.
iTV (aka iTube) seems cool, but Windows Media Center has most of those features for the last couple of years already (And Vista will too) minus the wireless. Apple likes to consistently accuse MS of stealing their innovation, but Apple is just as guilty when it doesn’t make an over-the-top advance over a competitive offering.
And still, no iPhone/iTalk announcement has been made.
Maybe Steve can come up with some truly exciting announcements before missing out on the ‘06 holiday season.
The alternative the iPod replaced was Walkman-type devices - portable music limited to the cassette or CD in it, unless you carried a stack of media around with you. Compared to those, iPods are great.
However what iTV seems to be replacing is popping a DVD into your living room player. And replacing it with 640×300 (guesstimate for full cinematic widescreen) resolution.
Doesn’t seem as compelling, does it?
webonics, I don’t believe it is about the functionalities Windows Media Center is capable of.
iTV allows PCs be PCs and TVs be TVs.
Though Dlink and Linksys already have products that do just that, it may require Apple’s marketing might and brand chic to move it to mainstream adoption.
What? Still no iPhone.
Another Apple event that gets a big “meh” from me.
It was Showtime.
I cant wait to buy the new 80 Gig version!
iTV = me wanty….
I just hope there isn’t a monthly fee. I want something that is sexy, small, cheap and I can rip my DVD’s too…
cbmeeks
http://www.codershangout.com