SlashGear Live-Blogging Transcript from Apple’s Special Event on Sept 5th 2007

05:48 am Ewdison Then: Roughly four more hours before live cast starts …. stay tuned

08:32 am Ewdison Then: We are almost there…still walking towards Moscone West

08:39 am Ewdison Then: We are here!

08:40 am Ewdison Then: We will enter the hall as soon as it opens.

08:46 am Ewdison Then: Our own Vincent will be livecasting in 1 hour and 15 minutes

08:49 am Ewdison Then: People are getting in the line…well not exactly in line

08:58 am Ewdison Then: Just got our badges, on our way into the hall. 60 more minutes until the event starts

09:18 am Ewdison Then: Everyone is gathering on the hall entrance waiting to get in soon.

09:22 am Ewdison Then: Apple store just went down…

09:47 am Ewdison Then: We are inside the hall now

09:47 am Ewdison Then: Again, Apple store has went offline

09:59 am Vincent: It’s about to start!

09:59 am Vincent Nguyen: a few more minutes and we are good to go!

10:00 am Vincent Nguyen: here we go

10:00 am Vincent Nguyen: the lights are dimming!!!

10:02 am Vincent Nguyen: Steve walks onto the stage and starts to talk about “Music” more specifically iTunes

10:02 am Vincent Nguyen: there are 22 countries selling iTunes

10:03 am Vincent Nguyen: itunes is the number 3 music retailers in the US behind wal-mart

10:03 am Vincent Nguyen: there are over 125,000 podcasts

10:04 am Vincent Nguyen: % of music released lat year was on digital format only

10:05 am Vincent Nguyen: new version of iTunes being shipped

10:05 am Vincent Nguyen: make your own ringtones and sync directly to the iphone retails for $.99 in addition to the cost of the song

10:06 am Vincent Nguyen: to allow ringtones for iphone

10:07 am Vincent Nguyen: steve is now demoing how to make your own ringtones on the new version of iTunes

10:11 am Vincent Nguyen: apple will turn on the new ringtone features next week

10:11 am Vincent Nguyen: now we talk about the iPod!!!

10:11 am Vincent Nguyen: iPod sales are rather strong with over 110M up to date

10:12 am Vincent Nguyen: today apple is refreshing or replacing the ipod!

10:13 am Vincent Nguyen: there is now a product red shuffle

10:13 am Vincent Nguyen: 1gb is $79 shipping today

10:13 am Vincent Nguyen: the ipod shuffle is getting a refresh with new colors

10:14 am Vincent Nguyen: the new nano is incredibly smaller

10:15 am Vincent Nguyen: super thin!

10:16 am Vincent Nguyen: there is a new user interface and high resolution with album artwork

10:17 am Vincent Nguyen: 3 games are bundled - one called vortex

10:18 am Vincent Nguyen: Sudoku will also be available to purchase

10:19 am Vincent Nguyen: steve is now demoig the new ipod nano

10:21 am Ewdison Then: Sorry for the blur picture, we are sitting quite far

10:23 am Vincent Nguyen: Battery life is 24hrs

10:24 am Ewdison Then: 4gb and 8gb version

10:24 am Vincent Nguyen: $199 for the 8gb

10:24 am Vincent Nguyen: 5hrs battery for video playback

10:24 am Vincent Nguyen: will ship today

10:25 am Vincent Nguyen: Steve’s talking about accessories now

10:26 am Vincent Nguyen: The 4gb will only be available in silver

10:26 am Vincent Nguyen: but both are compatible with Nike+ running kit

10:26 am Vincent Nguyen: Should be in stores by the weekend

10:27 am Vincent Nguyen: Now moved on to talking about the iPod

10:27 am Vincent Nguyen: it’s been renamed to iPod Classic

10:28 am Vincent Nguyen: thinner, full-metal body

10:28 am Vincent Nguyen: 40,000 songs!

10:28 am Vincent Nguyen: capacity is up to 160gb

10:28 am Vincent Nguyen: that’s huge!

10:29 am Vincent Nguyen: two models, the 160gb and an even-thinner 80gb

10:29 am Vincent Nguyen: both smaller than their predecessors (the old 30gb and old 80gb)

10:31 am Vincent Nguyen: battery life: 80gb has 25hrs music, 5hrs vid

10:31 am Vincent Nguyen: 160gb has 40hrs music, 7hrs vid

10:31 am Vincent Nguyen: iPod Touch!!!

10:31 am Vincent Nguyen: $249 for the 80gb, 349 for the 160gb

10:32 am Vincent Nguyen: those prices were for the iPod Classic, btw

10:32 am Vincent Nguyen: iPod Touch - taken the interface from the iPhone and put it on an iPod

10:33 am Vincent Nguyen: full, touchscreen control

10:33 am Vincent Nguyen: has multi-touch, same as iPhone

10:34 am Vincent Nguyen: as well as some apps: calendar, clock, contacts, calc, settings and a few more

10:34 am Vincent Nguyen: “we think it’s one of the seven wonders of the world”

10:35 am Vincent Nguyen: interface is pretty much exactly what you’d have on the iphone

10:35 am Vincent Nguyen: same coverflow

10:35 am Vincent Nguyen: same pinch’n’spread zooming control in photos

10:36 am Vincent Nguyen: screen roughly the same size as the iPhone’s - 3.5 inches

10:36 am Vincent Nguyen: has WiFi!!!

10:37 am Vincent Nguyen: uses same “slide to unlock”

10:37 am Vincent Nguyen: internet features should be coming soon

10:37 am Vincent Nguyen: did anybody hear the zune crying in the corner?

10:39 am Vincent Nguyen: now steve has a sly dig at the Zune!

10:39 am Vincent Nguyen: “others have done this before and failed”

10:39 am Vincent Nguyen: no word on whether you can transfer songs by wifi

10:40 am Vincent Nguyen: whole thing looks a lot like a sparse iphone - fewer icons, same bezel

10:41 am Vincent Nguyen: will have Safari web browser

10:41 am Vincent Nguyen: can save your home network

10:41 am Vincent Nguyen: wifi antenna on back in same black plastic panel

10:42 am Vincent Nguyen: youtube support, same as the iphone - you can watch videos over wifi

10:42 am Vincent Nguyen: then when you come into another network a webpage pops up and asks you to log in

10:44 am Ewdison Then: we’re experiencing the most visitors we’ve ever had on a live webcast - sorry if some messages occassionally come in wrong order!

10:45 am Vincent Nguyen: Steve is demo’ing the Safari browser

10:45 am Vincent Nguyen: “first ipod that can surf the web”

10:46 am Vincent Nguyen: whole Safari experience is just the same as on the iPhone

10:46 am Vincent Nguyen: same gestures, same zooming

10:47 am Vincent Nguyen: Steve has surfed through his Facebook profile

10:48 am Vincent Nguyen: $299 for 8gb and $399 for 16gb

10:48 am Vincent Nguyen: 22hr battery life for music, 5hrs for video

10:49 am Vincent Nguyen: will come in 8gb and 16gb sizes

10:49 am Vincent Nguyen: will hit stores v.soon

10:49 am Vincent Nguyen: i.e. this month

10:50 am Vincent Nguyen: one more thing

10:50 am Vincent Nguyen: iTunes WiFi Music Store

10:50 am Vincent Nguyen: download music from iTunes direct to your iPod Touch!

10:52 am Vincent Nguyen: new pink icon to go in the Touch’s dock

10:53 am Vincent Nguyen: this is something people have wanted for ages

10:53 am Vincent Nguyen: similar interface to itunes on mac

10:54 am Vincent Nguyen: but slimmed down

10:54 am Vincent Nguyen: tap a song to preview; tap download button to buy

10:54 am Vincent Nguyen: all comes with the same album art

10:55 am Vincent Nguyen: has all the features though

10:55 am Vincent Nguyen: New Releases, Genres, What’s Hot

10:55 am Vincent Nguyen: Steve is demoing - has bought a John Lennon album

10:56 am Vincent Nguyen: this is full iTunes but on an iPod!

10:57 am Vincent Nguyen: don’t know if you can wirelessly sync songs back to your mac

10:58 am Vincent Nguyen: Jobs is bigging-up wifi “it’s faster than 2.5G or even 3G”

10:59 am Vincent Nguyen: handy, since the Touch only has wifi!

11:00 am Vincent Nguyen: announcing a partnership with starbucks

11:00 am Vincent Nguyen: iPhone will also get iTunes WiFi Music Store

11:00 am Vincent Nguyen: don’t know yet if the iPhone will only be able to download songs over wifi, not EDGE

11:01 am Vincent Nguyen: iPod Touch and iPhone both monitor when you’re near starbucks

11:01 am Vincent Nguyen: or look back over last 10 songs in their playlist and buy from that instead

11:02 am Vincent Nguyen: Starbucks icon shows up in mobile iTunes store - you can buy what songs are playing in the coffee shop

11:05 am Vincent Nguyen: no word on when the itunes store will show up on iphones

11:07 am Vincent Nguyen: will probably just “appear” as the .Mac photo integration did

11:10 am Vincent Nguyen: when you buy a track in starbucks it instantly appears on your Touch

11:10 am Vincent Nguyen: you get free access to the iTunes WiFi store when in Starbucks

11:10 am Vincent Nguyen: then syncs to iTunes when you get back home

11:11 am Vincent Nguyen: they have 5,800 wifi-enabled stores in the US

11:11 am Vincent Nguyen: from october 2nd 600 stores in new york & seattle will have itunes support

11:11 am Vincent Nguyen: then 350 san fran starbucks in november

11:12 am Vincent Nguyen: LA and Chicago in 2008

11:12 am Vincent Nguyen: all starbucks taking part by 2009

11:13 am Vincent Nguyen: Steve is wrapping up today’s event

11:13 am Vincent Nguyen: Steve wants to make the iPhone “more affordable” for even more people

11:14 am Vincent Nguyen: can anybody smell a price cut coming?

11:14 am Vincent Nguyen: 8gb iPhone dropped to $399!

11:14 am Vincent Nguyen: massive applause!

11:15 am Vincent Nguyen: that’s a $200 cut!

11:15 am Vincent Nguyen: iPhone 4gb has been canned

11:15 am Vincent Nguyen: only the 8gb will be available from now

11:16 am Vincent Nguyen: steve is dishing out the praise to his cupertino crew

11:16 am Vincent Nguyen: they’re all standing up and basking in the applause

11:16 am Vincent Nguyen: KT Tunstall has been “flown in” to perform

11:17 am Vincent Nguyen: Steve says “She’s very talented and she’s very hot”

11:18 am Vincent Nguyen: honestly, steve, she’s young enough to be your daughter!

11:19 am Vincent Nguyen: i wonder if it’s Windows powered?

11:19 am Vincent Nguyen: oh dear, her drum machine is broken

11:20 am Vincent Nguyen: so, to recap, 5 new shuffle colors, ipod nano gets even smaller, ipod classic gets a massive 160gb drive, ipod touch borrows the iphone’s interface

11:21 am Vincent Nguyen: and the iTunes WiFi store is available on the Touch and the iPhone

11:22 am Vincent Nguyen: i hope you haven’t just bought a new iPhone, because that price drop to $399 is enough to make you really mad!

11:22 am Vincent Nguyen: KT says that Steve is making it “more fun” to pay for music than steal it. millions disagree

11:23 am Vincent Nguyen: And on that bombshell, the Apple Special Event finishes

11:24 am Vincent Nguyen: Keep reading SlashGear and MY iTablet for the full details of all today’s launches, upgrades and price cuts

11:25 am Vincent Nguyen: and thanks for joining us - in record numbers! - for this Live Webcast

11:27 am Ewdison Then: SlashGear team (Vincent, Ewdison , Chris, Scott, and James) logging off the webcast….