It’s almost 3pm here in Barcelona, and we’re waiting for Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 event to begin. Thanks for following the SlashGear liveblog!

It’s past 3pm here, the scheduled start time, and aside from some upbeat music there’s nothing to report

The wired internet connections Microsoft have provided here are proving really unreliable.

Steve is only taking a brief moment on stage, he’s brought Joe Belfiore – in charge of design – to the stage to introduce Windows Phone 7

Joe describes Windows Phone 7 as an opportunity for Microsoft to change. More and more devices were arriving on the market, more complexity and more developers pushing out apps, and they didn’t see phone UI’s keeping up with the functionality.

A phone is not a PC – it’s a smaller, more intimate device. Microsoft wanted to go back and revisit design and find something that’s new. Move beyond the PC metaphor to something a bit different

“How can we build a phone focussing on the end-user and the things that matter to them – that reflect your unique personality & needs?”

How can we suit a device to the user themselves? Now showing a video demo of Windows Phone 7. The UI is more like a Zune HD, pared down with large, clear text and big buttons.

More details here: http://www.slashgear.com/windows-phone-7-series-hands-on-1573973/

“We want a smart design that puts the user at the center of their experience and moves beyond different apps; second, we want to design integrated experiences which cater to your different tasks, like Pictures, Music, etc.”

“Those are the fundamental ideas behind the Windows Phone 7 platform”
“We want to really get into deep thinking of the user experience, with h/w and s/w that work in unison with how you want”

“Every Windows Phone 7 will have three buttons on the front: Home, Search and Back”

“As you navigate from one experience to another you want a simple, intuitive way to navigate. All devices will be capacitive touch enabled with big, beautiful screens”

“We wanted the software experience to know the people you care about, to be relevant and know what’s going on in your life”

“We wanted the phone to be delightful and fun – a phone isn’t just a tool, it’s an extension of your life and we want you to smile when you use it. I’m going to show you a demo of some prototype hardware” – it’s a simple black device with a large touchscreen and a row of three buttons along the bottom – back, Home and search

On the homescreen there are tiles with various panes which you can organize yourself. The People tile pulls in photos of your contents and cycles through them. The Calendar tile shows what meetings are upcoming. The Pictures tile shows recent pictures taken or sync’d, and there’s an Xbox tile with an avatar

Can pin individuals as shortcuts to the homescreen – pulls in their Facebook photo to represent them, and as they update it changes automatically

Pressing and holding on the tile pulls up a broken heart icon, and you can tap it to remove a tile. You can then drag other live tiles around to take their places. You can promote applications – which will also pull in dynamic information – or playlists for music.

Moving on to the calendar, there’s a day view and an agenda view, items in red are personal meetings from Windows Live Calendar, and those in blue are from Windows Exchange Server. Day view shows a timeline with different slots.

At the bottom of the screen there’s a row of contextual icons, but you can tap next to them to pull up more options. You can zoom into the day view to see more details.

When you tap on a meeting you see large, clear text telling you the full details. The phone automatically detects phone numbers and addresses system-wide – i.e. in calendar, in the browser – and converts them into smartlinks; tapping an address opens up Bing Maps

As you zoom into Bing Maps more and more information is pulled in; it automatically flips from regular map view to satellite photography as you zoom in, so it’s easier to find places. Multitouch pinch-zoom is supported.

Multitouch is consistent throughout the Windows Phone 7 experience, and it’s also consistent with the way multitouch is supported on Windows 7 PCs

Bing Maps can show traffic and manually turn satellite view on/off.

Joe is a fan of sushi, apparently, and he’s hungry, so he’s pushed the search button to call up the Bing navigation page. It’s a picture with a tiny Bing search bar at the top of the page. Tapping in sushi calls up not just regular results but geographically nearby restaurants complete with a map

The list is automatically sorted by distance, and if you tap on one of them it pulls up a dynamically created data page for each result. Will be filled out with various information, like phone number, address, reviews. You can swipe across – they’re calling it “Pivot” – to see each pane of information

You can swipe across the Bing results page from local results to web results and news. You can pull up results straight into the browser. The browser supports pinch-zooming, and is “much more advanced than any we’ve shipped in a phone before”. Based on desktop browser code.

Can double-tap to zoom into a picture or column – it doesn’t look like the text is reflowing, though. Zoomed in very close the text is very clear and crisp – “this is a step beyond cleartype – it’s called sub-pixel imaging and it makes websites super-legible”. Makes browser pages on a small device feel really really big.

At the bottom of the browser screen is the app bar – can easily add to favorites or switch to different tabs. Pull up to see other options – can pin a page to the homescreen as a tile.

Back at the Start experience, and looking at communication. There’s a tile with Outlook that links into work Exchange email. Very clear looking UI, fits a large sender name, subject line in yellow and then first line of the body of the email. Works on a local cache of data so if you lose connection you can still access data. Can pivot between Urgent or All or Unread or Flagged.

Tapping to the left of a message ticks it, but it also opens up a column of check-boxes to select multiple messages so you can delete them all.

Now talking about Integrated Experiences – Microsoft wanted to bring the common tasks people complete together into one place. Microsoft call them Hubs – the idea is to organize data on the web and data on your phone into one place that’s “fast and fun”. “The combination of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts – works well in moments in your life when you only have a little time available”

Starting first with People, which is primarily about communication and connecting people. Taking the PC as an example, there are lots of ways to manage lists of people – Outlook contacts, Facebook friends, webmail services – and on the PC it’s easy to switch between them separately as you have a big screen. But the phone is not a PC

Rather than looking at things separately there’s a People Hub which pulls together all the people you talk to – the recent updates come to the top. Pulls in from Facebook, Exchange, webmail, more; in the middle there’s a “Me” tab

People is a panorama, first shows what’s recent but you can pan to the right to see a full list, then pan again and see the “What’s New” feed which pulls together Windows Live, Facebook, etc into a single list.

Tapping on a letter brings up the full alphabet on-screen – you can jump through the person list

Tapping on an individual shows an amalgam of all of their status updates – you can read and comment directly from there, no matter which service they’ve used to post their update. Can then pin that person to the front of the People hub

Next up is Pictures. Joe is apparently a photo enthusiast and takes photos of his twin girls. On the PC, he uses Windows Live Photo app to organize his photos, shares them on Facebook and other sites. On the PC it’s straightforward, but it’s harder on the small screen of a phone.

As with People, Pictures is set up as a panorama, starting with the Gallery – with options for albums, all or favourites – then pan to the right and it shows the most recent pictures, either taken with the phone camera or sync’d from the PC. Then pan again to see new photos from friends.

Once you’re looking at a picture you can pull up a menu from the bottom and one-touch upload that image to Facebook. Albums, meanwhile, are either organized on the phone or sync’d from online. The online albums are marked with the service that they reside on, e.g. Facebook or Windows Live. Can view them just as if they were local.

Next up, Productivity. “It wouldn’t be a Microsoft event if we didn’t talk about it – it’s good for business people as well as consumers”. Office is good for taking notes, especially with OneNote, and it also provides services like SharePoint. We’ve tried to take that experience and bring it together onto the phone. Hence, the Office Hub.

Office Hub starts with OneNote tile, with an option to create a new note with text, voice or picture and tiles underneath of existing notes. Swipe to right and there are documents (can create a new one) and then across to SharePoint to see shared documents. It’s all sync’d with your PC and it’s all compatible with upcoming Office 2010.

Next Hub is for when you want “fun and delight” – Music + Video is first. On the PC you can use the Zune client to manage a music collection, but that’s not the only service people use. For instance, can use Pandora to stream music. However, while that experience works on a PC it doesn’t on a phone. Every Windows Phone 7 device will work as a Zune.

Can integrate in other services, however, so you can consume media from the device. First see different media types – music, video, etc – then History (with album art as wallpaper) and then pan across to third-party plugins like Pandora

You don’t have to have a PC, but if you do have one you get an extra benefit. Plug in via USB and the phone is recognized and the Zune software auto-loads. The software is basically a desktop client that manages content on a device. Zune supports video/pictures/music. Have a Device tab with details on the phone, space left, when last connected, and you can browse the content that’s stored on the phone itself. Can delete content directly from the phone via the Zune software.

There’s an option called QuickPlay which creates smart DJ playlists. Consistent UI between Zune software and Windows Phone 7.

Now looking at the Games Hub. Gaming is the most popular category for mobile applications. People play games on their phones, their PCs and on their Xbox consoles as a member of Xbox Live. Wanted to bring those features together: Xbox Live service and games are being added to Windows Phone 7 devices

Games tile takes you into the Hub, first shows Spotlight which has announcements about the service and new games. Pan right for recent gamer scores and avatar, then pan again to Requests (people nudging you to join a new game, or to take your turn), then right again to game titles available to download onto the phone and play, sync’ing your achievements with your Xbox Live account on the Xbox 360. Games look to include puzzle types and card games, nothing graphically too demanding.

“We’re trying to take this rich capability into a design that’s smart and suited to each individual user. We wanted to create integrated experiences around the most common tasks. Altogether this is a great phone for busy people who want to make the most of every moment”. Going to play a quick video then go back to Steve Ballmer.

Video says every phone has become a slight version of the one before it. And apps have been a case of each app working independently. Showing an iPhone-style UI with people going “in and out” of apps. Windows Phone 7, however, brings everything in motion, allows you to move smoothly between experiences rather than dipping in and out.

Still no talk of multitasking, or of specific hardware specifications.

Steve Ballmer is back on stage. Tagline behind him is “A different kind of phone designed for Life in Motion”. Steve says “the phone market is highly competitive, highly dynamic and super-exciting”. He’s bellowing.

Microsoft wanted to do something highly different to what’s going on in the market and what they did before. “We’ve started a whole new generation with the arrival of Windows Phone 7 Series”

We thought of several things when we considered the redesign. We really wanted to lead and take more complete accountability than we had in earlier versions of the Windows Phone for the end-user experience. We looked at what the minimum hardware definition was required for great experiences. How can we make sure we have consistent, great experiences across the device? How do we take the next step to integrate the user into the phone?

So the user experience we showed you is a baseline, and on top of which you’ll see innovation from manufacturers, carriers and other partners. But the consistent design experience for the end-user was a fundamental item for the Windows Phone 7 experience.

Second, developers are absolutely fundamental. We really raised the platform on which people can build and the set of integrated services which people can extend. We’ll talk more about those tools at the MIX conference next month. Software devs can assume certain things are inherent to the platform, and don’t need to code them from scratch, such as social network integration.

Third, but as significantly, we wanted to take a step forward in approach to working with partners: hardware vendors and operators who add value and bring these things to market and deliver a key service. With the h/w vendors we want to raise the bar and have more consistency with hardware and software experience. We want to see different diversity in form-factors. We think you’ll see greater consistency “and almost more innovation in terms of form, feel and industrial design”

With mobile operators, we needed a model that raised the bar and gives the operator the ability to show their unique service offerings but with a consistent UI experience. For instance, billing integrated with the mobile bill. The “conundrum” is trying to raise user experience and integrate more, at the same time as drive the dev community and include the operator’s services. All of those communities must be supported, but in a coherent way.

Steve is going to describe some of Microsoft’s motivations in where they were coming from. They “recast and reformed” strategy/design approach 2 years ago, and are on track for something “really exciting”.

Now bringing on-stage Andy Lees, to talk about mobile partnerships existing and new.

They took this opportunity to change a lot of things, but kept constant their belief in the partner model. 3 reasons partners are vital: they add experience and expertise, they bring knowledge and insights; they add scale – more than 1bn phones are sold every year, with smartphones gaining share. Microsoft need partners who can support them at this scale. Thirdly, partners can give customers choice: one size doesn’t fit all. Some people want a keyboard, some don’t, some want large, some small.

What has changed is how Microsoft work with their partners. “Striving for synergy”. Andy reckons Windows Phone 7 is a “new way” for the experience to come together.

Working with Qualcomm, LG, Samsung, Garmin-ASUS, HP, HTC, Dell, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba for hardware. Result is better performance and better quality across the experience – better graphics, smoother experience.

Put together a “core hardware specification” common across all Windows Phone 7 devices: screen resolution, 4-point multitouch, accelerometers and compasses. Also the software: Microsoft have come up with all of the UI interfaces and drivers. Microsoft “love the innovation OEMs will provide”; OEMs will provide a range of devices, but we won’t find out about them until closer to launch date (in time for Holiday 2010 period).

Developers want to know that their applications and games will fully exploit the hardware capabilities, together with services in the cloud. Still no details on this until MIX in March 2010, though.

Microsoft have worked with T-Mobile, Telefonica, Sprint, Vodafone, AT&T, Orange, SFR, Verizon Wireless, Telecom Italia. But carriers aren’t just “dumb pipes” – Microsoft have enabled them to offer their own services on Windows Phone 7 devices.

Microsoft will be working particularly closely with AT&T and Orange. Working side-by-side so they can provide specific differentiation on their networks. Talking about AT&T first: “valued partner” since first Windows Mobile smartphones in US in 2003. Bringing on stage David Christopher – responsible for choosing handsets and strategy for AT&T

“It’s great to be here today” says David, “We’re thrilled to be premier partner for Windows 7 Phones in the US. They will be a significant part of our strategy. Expect to ship double the number of smartphones in 2010 as they did in 2008. A huge driver will be Windows Phone, as it brings all the elements users are demanding – applications, consistency, gaming, media”

Next up is Orange, who launched the first ever Windows Mobile phone in 2002. Olaf Swanteeis SVP for Personal Business, runs worldwide business representing 130m customers in 34 countries.

“We are proud with the partnership with Microsoft, and we’re proud to have beat AT&T to the market in 2002. We’re proud to be a key partner in offering and supporting Windows Phone 7 devices; especially because only 25-percent of customers today only properly access the mobile internet today. With Windows Mobile 7 we can democratize the smartphone and get it to a much broader footprint. It’s important to say that this partnership is more than pure devices – we have degreed to work on distribution and on the services/support model to make sure at launch customers will get technical support with the Orange Care product portfolio.”

Andy’s back – “We’ve redefined how we’ve presented the mobile phone ecosystem – experiences customers can’t resist – the whole really is greater than the sum of the parts”. Back to Steve.

“I hope across the board we’ve given you a sense of the direction we’re taking. We’re taking a big step – it was really exciting to share this with you. Building on the concepts of Bing, Zune, Xbox, Windows, IE; we have an opportunity, if we appreciate the differences between the phone and the PC metaphors, I’m enthusiastic about the direction we’re heading. We have the best talent inside Microsoft and we get the chance to work with the best talent in carriers and other companies”

“We talk about a strategy that says three screens and a cloud, and the phone is definitely one of those screens. We hope 7 is our lucky number, and that Windows Phone 7 will be lucky for us. Exciting things are happening in the TV sphere, and we’re looking forward to bringing the flexibility to consumers”

They’re aiming phone at broader markets – young people, older people. When will we have Windows Phone 7 devices? “Our plan is to have them in the market in time for holiday season 2010″

Didn’t want things to drip out – wanted to set a milestone today. Wrapping up now, will be taking a few questions but we’ve heard that there won’t be general demo booths for people to try out Windows Phone 7. Check out our initial hands-on report from earlier today – http://www.slashgear.com/windows-phone-7-series-hands-on-1573973/ – and we’ve been promised some more hands-on experience after this event. We’ll be getting photos and video there, too, so stay tuned for that.

First question – will Microsoft ever rethink their selling Windows Mobile licenses?
A. No, our purpose is to sell software, other people make hardware. If something is free then you should look more closely to see where the hidden cost is.

Q. With Windows Phone 7 there’ll be UI consistency; how will you allow partners to differentiate?
A. The UI is extensible rather than replaceable. If you replace the UI then what does the developer design for? The original or the replacement? Having consistency provides a better user experience, but each element is extensible – you can do a lot of different things, add value, onto the basic platform. Extensibility without the chaos of people trying to change the same thing.
Steve says he remembers arguments about the same thing when they switched from DOS to Windows – but in the end it created more diversity, and he reckons the same will happen in a few years time with Windows Phone 7.

Last Q. What about Adobe Flash support?
A. Not out of the gate.
Steve says: We have no OBJECTION (shouted!) to Flash!

That’s it folks, thanks for following along! We’re off for hands-on…

Vincent is heading to get his badge. We will start taking photos shortly.

Line to get Badges. Press starting to line up.

Entrance to the press event.

The long line is forming quickly.

Vince has received his badge and waiting to get into the press hall.

We want to Thank Eye-Fi (& Gina) for helping us with our Eye-Fi card problem.

Not good, just saw an AT&T vb bossman… could be partnered w/att for apple tablet?

Very very crowded now. Waiting to enter the hall.

Waiting to get in (Video)

We are inside the press hall! Less than 15 minutes until it starts

Interesting setup on-stage today, with a chair and a table. Don’t remember seeing that before at previous Apple events we’ve covered.

There’s still a lot of people trying to find places to sit. Event is due to start in just under ten minutes.

Music today is Bob Dylan, there have been several tracks by him so far.

Apple are asking people with MacBooks to hold them up for photos – so they can see the logos better

They’re asking us to silence cellphones – the program will begin shortly

Four minutes until the event is due to begin

WiFi in this venue is, as expected, pretty bad. We’ve brought along a MiFi for our connectivity today.

Al Gore is here; pics in a minute

Two minutes to go…

Music so far has been all Dylan, one of his live concert recordings

Al Gore in the house

Lights are going down…

Steve Jobs is coming on-stage

Standing ovation from parts of the room, huge amounts of applause

Starting talking about iPhone – “a few weeks we’d sold 250m iPhones”

Sorry, that should have been iPods, not iPhones

284m retail stores

Next update: the App Store “an incredible phenomenon” – over 140k applications

“Just ended our holiday quarter: $50.6bn of revenue”

“Where does Apple get its revenue – iPods, iPhones and of course Macs”

iPods, iPhones and most Macs are all mobile devices – Apple is the largest mobile device company in the world, now. Larger than Sony’s mobile device company, bigger than Samsung’s, in terms of revenue it’s bigger than Nokia

Now let’s get to the main event… starting by going backward to 1981

Now let’s get to the main event… starting by going backward to 1981

We started with the laptop, then the iPhone, and now we’re asking if there’s something in the middle

Something better than a laptop for watching video, browsing photos, enjoying your music, reading ebooks, playing games. If there’s going to be a third category it has to do better at these tasks than your laptop or smartphone.

Some people have said this is netbooks, but they’re not better at anything – they’re just cheap laptops. But we think we’ve got something that is better, and we’d like to show you it today. We call it the iPad

It’s the best browsing experience you’ve ever had, way better than a laptop and way better than a smartphone
You can turn iPad any way you want, it automatically adjusts. To see a full webpage is phenomenal – to hold a full webpage in your hand is a phenomenal experience

It’s the best browsing experience you’ve ever had, way better than a laptop and way better than a smartphone
You can turn iPad any way you want, it automatically adjusts. To see a full webpage is phenomenal – to hold a full webpage in your hand is a phenomenal experience

iTunes store is build in, YouTube with high-def, and it’s awesome to watch TV shows and movies on

OS is from the iPhone, rather than OS X, all very smooth. Web browsing demo switches from portrait to landscape

Email demo now, list of messages on the left and full text on the right; the on-screen keyboard is almost fill-sized

Moving onto photos, and the gestures look pretty much as you’d expect from the iPhone, flicking and swiping to change between slides.

The iPad will work with both Windows and Macs, but if you have iPhoto on a Mac it will pull in photo data such as GPS position and location using Places.

The UI looks like a cross between what you’d have on the iPhone and what you’d see on OS X

There are photo transitions and effects, too; Steve is sat in the chair we mentioned earlier, resting the iPad on his crossed leg and tapping it with one hand

Moving onto looking at iTunes, and the interface is much fuller than you’d get on an iPhone. Choosing to play more Bob Dylan

You can buy sample and buy songs directly on the iPad. Pop-up information that shows song and album details

Moving onto the Calendar app, whole thing looks like a traditional diary planner

Pages are animated, with transitions – it’s quite like the Microsoft Courier demo video we saw leaked last year, in fact

Now moving onto Google Maps with Street View

It’s pulling down location – via GPS we’re assuming. He’s looking at a full-screen Street View shot of a restaurant

Moving onto media playback, with a Star Trek demo video

Not good, just saw an AT&T vb bossman… could be partnered w/att for apple tablet?

You can access chapters and flip the iPad into landscape mode to watch wide-screen, though there are black bars top and bottom since the display isn’t 16:9

Now covering specifications: 9.7-inch display and it’s just 0.5-inches thick. It has between 16GB and 64GB of flash memory onboard.only 10 hrs of battery life. Apple developed their own chip, the 1GHz Apple A4 chip, and is has WiFi 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1

There’s also an accelerometer, digital compass, speaker and a microphone, together with a 30-pin dock connector. The battery lasts for 10hrs runtime or over a month of standby time.

Jobs is stressing the environmental credentials now, too. The iPad is arsenic free, BFR free, mercury free and PVC free. He’s mentioned WiFi but no 3G – so far no word on cellular connectivity.

Scott Forstall is onstage now to talk about apps for the iPad

Applications downloaded from the App Store – regular iPhone apps – will run unmodified on the iPad

He’s showing the Facebook app – the standard one you can run on your iPhone today – and it’s in the center of the screen, but with a tap of the button it doubles in size to fill the display.

Note on unmodified apps – If unmodified, apps can run in a small window in the middle of the display, basically 1:1 pixel, or you can double the pixels and have full-screen but lower resolution

Scott’s demonstrating Snocross from ESPN; he’s steering by tilting the iPad, using the accelerometer. Apple have added iPad support to the iPhone SDK.

The updated SDK is available to download today, and it includes an iPad simulator to test apps.

“We think it’s going to be a gold rush for developers” – the App Store is loaded on the iPad

And Apple will feature iPad apps at the front of the App Store, prioritized over iPhone apps (though you can still access the latter)

Now inviting developers on-stage to talk about coding for the iPad, starting with Gameloft

It’s the usual thing – what can they come up with in just a few weeks. Gameloft have brought along Nova, the iPad version. One of the benefits is having more screen space for expansive controls.

There’s an on-screen D-Pad which you can slide around, holding the iPad in both hands like an iPhone. But there are new ways to control it too, like three-finger gestures.

Also showing drawing a box around targets to select them, so as to fire at multiple targets at once

Now NYT are on-stage, with Martin Nisenholtz talking about the paper’s app

They’ve built a customized app for the iPad, just as they did for the iPhone, with NYT content. It looks just like the regular paper, or at least a lot more than the iPhone version does

Can flip between landscape and portrait orientations just by flipping the iPad, together with resizing text using pinch-zooming. Tapping zooms into a column, and there’s a live-updates setting which pulls breaking news into all the different sections

You can also play videos that have been embedded into the NYT app

Next on stage is an art app, Brushes

Steve Sprang from Brushes is on-stage to talk about the app

Apparently it doesn’t matter what your skill level is, anyone can paint with their fingertips

Brushes is doing a great job of showing off the new UI for the iPad, pop-up menus

Electronics Arts’ Travis Boatman says their primary interest was “the device’s performance” They’ve brought along the iPad version of Need For Speed

Boatman describes playing on the iPad as “like holding a huge, HDTV screen just inches from your face”

Brushes is doing a great job of showing off the new UI for the iPad, pop-up menus

Graphics on Need For Speed look incredible. Boatman says they had room to add a gear-shifter which you tap to change, and you can also tap the mirror to get a rear-view

Next on stage is MBL.com

Chad Evans is demonstrating the baseball app. “We had to create a new experience to suit this display”

Can browse back through previous game information, step through games and watch the pitcher. It’ll show the trajectory of the ball from the player’s perspective. And because of the extra screen space they can fit that and live video on at the same time. Video with home or away announcers is available.

That’s MLB.com done with

Scott Forstall back on-stage. He’s “incredibly excited” about the potential, but “while we wait for apps” all of the existing iPhone apps will run

Now Steve Jobs is back on stage, and he’s going to talk about ebooks. Showing a Kindle on-screen

Amazon “has done a great job pioneering” ebooks, but Apple are “going to stand on their shoulders” and take it further. Launching an app called iBooks

Menus look like bookshelves, literally – wooden effect, with the titles on the shelves

It’s integrated with an iBook store from which you can purchase and d/l books direct to the iPad. They’ve partnered with Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, MacMillan and Hachett Book Group

(A lot of these names you might remember from December 2009, complaining about ebooks and saying they were going to delay releasing them!)

Different ways to browse, including top 10 lists, the NYT list, bestsellers, etc. You can tap a book to get more information on it and see reviews, as well as download samples as you would on the Kindle. When you buy it, it turns up on your virtual bookshelf: a tap opens it up.

It’s basically iTunes for ebooks

Reading the books, meanwhile, is all animated with page-turns; you can tap or drag to flip through. It’s up to publishers whether they want B&W or color content, and they can embed video too.

Readers can change the font and the size of the font

There’s a contents page and you can easily flip through to the chapter you want

iBooks will offer fiction and textbooks.

Now moving on to iWork

iBooks uses ePUB format btw

Apparently a year ago Steve asked the iWork team to produce a version for iPad – they said they needed “a lot of horsepower”

The iPad can handle that, but it requires a new UI; Phil Schiller coming on-stage to talk about it.

Phil’s recapping iWork – apparently millions of Mac users “truly love” it. They’ve developed a completely new Keynote version for the iPad, along with a new Pages version which is “the most beautiful word processor you’ll see”, and a new Numbers app. Phil says it’s “fun and cool”

Starting a demo of iWork on iPad now

Starting with showing presentations; can create a new one from scratch on the iPad

All the slides are shown in thumbnails along one side, with the current slide next to them

It’s all very impressive, and the UI looks great, but we can’t imagine many people getting the iPad with iWork in mind

Can import images from the Photo app, resize and move around

It’s possible to do basic editing – rotating with multitouch, cropping, etc – within Keynote

There are also various preset animations which you can easily add, together with slide transitions

It all looks smooth and straightforward

Now looking at the iPad version of Pages; it has the same documents gallery, where you pick a file by a thumbnail

As soon as you tap on the document (or text in it) the keyboard shows up; you can run Pages in landscape or portrait mode, and the keyboard resizes appropriately

Horizontal, the iPad keyboard is almost full-sized

Just as you would on the desktop app, you can change text layout and image wrapping – he’s pasted in an image of a giraffe and the text is automatically reflowing

Now in the spreadsheet app, Numbers. You can load up several sheets simultaneously, and there are tabs running along the top of the display to flip between

You can create tables and graphs directly on the iPad, it all looks like, well, a spreadsheet program.

Apple have also developed a custom keyboard intended for data-entry: it’s “exactly what you need”

Basically has a numeric keypad, the usual plus/minus/etc keys and quick access to functions, date/time, ABC, etc.

There are also more complex elements – you can highlight and rearrange pages, drag out charts with your fingers, etc. That’s it for iWork

Phil Schiller is really impressed with the power and capability of the apps for iPad, he’s calling them “tremendous”

iWork apps will be sold separately for iPad users, at $9.99 each

Keyboard

He’s just mentioned that they’re easy to connect to a projector, though we don’t know any more details on that yet

Steve Jobs back on stage

There are still a few more things to cover

“Isn’t it great?” he asks

Now talking about iTunes sync. iPad will work in that way just like an iPod/iPhone. All your apps, media, contacts, calendar, bookmarks will by sync’d

Every iPad has WiFi, but they’re going to have models with integrated 3G too

Now talking about cost

Saying cellphone companies usually charge $60 per month for a data contract

Apple have two data plans, they’re going to offer $14.99 for up to 250MB of data, or $29.99 for unlimited data. Partnering with AT&T (oh no!)

You also get free AT&T WiFi hotspot access. It’s all pre-pay, managed on the iPad itself, and you can cancel the contract at any point

International deals will follow in in June/July

All iPad models are unlocked and use “GSM micro-SIMS”

“If your carrier uses micro-SIMS it’s likely it’ll just work” – we can’t think of any carriers who do, though, off the top of our heads

“So, iPad – it’s phenomenal to hold the internet in your hand”

Steve reckons it’s the best device he’s “ever seen”

Recapping what they’ve announced today

Now talking about price, the pundits say it’ll be $999 but “we had a very aggressive price goal” – want to get it into many hands, and they met their cost goals

iPad starts at $499

That got a great reaction in the room, lots of cheering

“At $449 lots of people can afford an iPad” – we’re still waiting to hear what you get for that

That’s the WiFi-only 16GB model for $499. $599 gets you the 32GB and $699 gets you 64GB. None have 3G, which will cost $130 on top.

All will begin shipping worldwide in 60 days time!

The 3G versions will take another 30 days after that (so 90 days in all)

Talking about accessories – a dock comes with it

There’s a keyboard dock – basically looks like an Apple keyboard with a dock section that the iPad sits in

Then there’s a case which doubles as a stand

Now showing a video about the accessories, with Jonathan Ive

Steve didn’t give pricing for any of the accessories, nor make clear which come with the iPad and which you’ll have to buy separately.

Ive says the iPad is “magical”

The video is showing all sides of the iPad – there’s no sign of a camera as far as we can tell

Ive is talking about how you don’t have to think, you just tap

Reiterating that the onscreen keyboard is “practically” the same as a laptop keyboard

Showing typing with both hands, with the on-screen keyboard taking up just under half the display in landscape orientation

We’re still waiting on hearing about multitasking, and iPhone OS 4.0

More accessories

According to video you can transfer apps from your iPhone to the iPad, rather than have to re-buy them. Going over some hardware stats: more than 1,000 hardware sensors Apple have used for multitouch

LED backlit display that uses IPS for increased viewing angles

Now talking about the Apple A4 chip. iPad is fanless.

More iPad photos

Video is done; Steve Jobs back on-stage

He’s asking whether Apple “have what it takes” to define a new, third product category

Unsurprisingly he thinks they do, the iPad fits in-between iPhone and Mac, and with a solid app offering including iBooks, iWork and iTunes

There are over 125m accounts with credit cards registered that can buy from the new iTunes/iBook/App Store

Reiterating that it’s “magical and revolutionary” and that the price is “unbelievable”

Apparently Apple want to be at the “intersection” where tech and liberal arts meet – intuitive products that are easy and fun to use

There’s a hands-on area just next door, so we’ll be heading over there to grab photos and video – they’ll be up asap!

Looks like that’s everything for today!

We want to thank you for sticking with us and the SlashGear liveblog – and in record numbers! Over twice the amount of people than for previous record, just over 1m of you!

Stay glued to SlashGear for hands-on photos and video as soon as we can get them.

We will post our hands-on video and pictures on SlashGear.com frontpage. Thank you for following our livecast!

Welcome to SlashGear Live coverage of Google Android Press Gathering. The Live blogging will start in one and a half hour (at 10AM PST). You do not need to refresh your browser, this page will push updates to your screen automatically.

We are here!

Eric Lin and Eric Gordon from HTC

Peter chou htc ceo just walked through the door.

Received my badge

Less than ten minutes to go and we’re inside and waiting.

Music so far has included Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas and Katie Perry, for those wanting to create a Nexus One playlist

As for the last image, that’s Vic Gundotra (Google VP of Engineering) talking with Andy Rubin (Android founder) and Robert Scoble

While this image shows HTC’s Peter Chou in his front-row seat. HTC are the hardware partner behind the Nexus One.

By our clock it’s 10am PST, so the show should be starting any minute now.

This is a reasonably small event today; there are maybe 100 seats available in the room.

Premature demo of the Nexus One courtesy of Andy Rubin, who has just taken a photo with his own handset!

Music has turned off, looks like we’re starting…

Today’s event will be a series of short presentations; Mario, Google’s VP of product development is up first

He’s talking about the Open Handset Alliance and how it started back in 2007

There are 13 new members, plus “the next stage in evolution for Android” to announce today

One year after the OHA was announced, HTC and T-Mobile launched the G1, complete with a hardware keyboard and “full google services”

The T-Mobile myTouch 3G was the next step, when Google added in support for a soft keyboard and widgets, stereo Bluetooth. HTC enabled a thinner design. That was followed by the Motorola DROID on Verizon.

The DROID marked “new, powerful hardware” and an increase in carriers and countries where you could buy Android

They now have 20 devices on sale through 59 carriers in a total of 48 countries, offering 19 languages

2009 saw four major software releases, including a compatibility suite so that devices can be verified for their performance.

That also helped avoid fragmentation among the 52 OHA members and the hardware and software they’re offering. Google are seeing Android users accessing the web more than 30x the amount than they’d do on a featurephone

Meanwhile mobile searches have increased 5x

They’re running through the reasons Android is successful: developer-friendly, lower manufacturing costs, speed to market, etc.

Incidentally, looking around me it seems like just about everybody already has a Nexus One!

One element they’re emphasizing is “always on” applications – bit of an iPhone OS snub there, I reckon

“I want to shift to the next step in Android evolution” – “we’re really only in the early stages of a longer journey”

“There’s no time to stop and celebrate”

Google will “adapt to the needs of consumers” by working on selected projects with their partners, working to increase volume, variety and quality of Android devices.

“Today we’re announcing the Nexus One”

It’s intended to showcase the technology Google are working on

They’re trying to create a new category: “The Nexus One belongs in a new category of devices we call Superphones”

Google developed the Nexus One “in very close partnership with HTC” – Peter Chou, HTC CEO is coming on-stage

There’s a slide showing the seven Android devices HTC have produced, from the G1 to the Nexus One

Though that includes both the GSM Hero, the Sprint Hero version and the HTC DROID ERIS on Verizon, which are all based on the same hardware

The Nexus One, Chou says, “embodies the HTC-branded experience in the most tangible way”

“This is one of the best designed HTC phones we’ve ever had … the combination of the Android experience and HTC hardware”. “We are very committed to innovation in mobile technology”

The Nexus One!

Peter Chou has left the stage

They’re now going to run through some demos of the Nexus One, including hardware and software details

3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen is confirmed

Together with Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon CPU (as in the HTC HD2) and a trackball that lights up in various colors

Display runs at HVGA 480 x 800, so a little smaller than the Verizon DROID

There are also the usual sensors, including proximity and light, a digital compass and GPS

It’s also thin – just 11.5mm – and weighs 130g

There’s a 5-megapixel camera with an LED flash, together with a dock connector on the bottom and noise-cancellation for getting rid of background noise

The back of the phone says “Google” not “with Google” like we’ve seen before on other handsets – this is definitely Google’s own take on what an Android device should be.

There’s also a space on the back for customization – you can have a name or message engraved on the metal strip on the back

Confirmed Nexus One is running on Android 2.1 “the latest and greatest version of Android 2.0″

All the features from the Verizon DROID are included on the Nexus One, including Google Maps Navigation, Facebook integration (with a homescreen widget and contacts integration) and Quick Contacts for swapping between contact methods

Now going through what’s different with Android 2.1, first looking at customization

The homescreen has changed – first offered shortcuts, then widgets – and based on positive consumer feedback they’ve increased homescreen panels to five (from 3)

There’s a new Google News & Weather widget with RSS feeds – a widget shows headlines on the desktop, then you can tap into a full list, and finally tap each entry to go to the site itself. As for the weather, it automatically uses GPS to locate you and then gives you weather reports including minute-by-minute forecasts

Any application developer can build a homescreen widget

They’ve also introduced “live wallpaper” which replaces static images

Demonstrating one called “Water” which shows the surface of a pond; leaves gently, slowly fall onto the water, and ripples move out. Panning between the panels moves the pond surface too. If you tap the water, ripples spread, and if you tap a lot it rains.

There are several live wallpapers, including one which is music-linked, like a graphic equalizer

The live wallpapers take advantage of a new 3D engine: the Nexus One is a “mini computer sitting in your pocket”

Something else that takes advantage of that is the new zoom-in application view. This replaces the regular Android App Menu tray; the list scrolls up and down “like the titles in Star Wars”

“Another natural home is for where you store your media content: your photos and videos” – there’s a new gallery app

Google worked with the Cool Iris team (who make plugins for 3D photo browsing) to put a similar effect into the Nexus One. The photos “load very quickly” and have an intuitive way of telling you where you are in the gallery. Also uses the accelerometer: you can tilt the phone to scroll

Tapping a button in the top corner of the screen flips to a new photo grouping view, ordering by time, date and location – “one day you want to show your friends that one picture of your nephew at Thanksgiving, but you have to scroll through all these photos to get to them”. Now can go straight to the Thanksgiving view and find it more easily.

Now can sync your photos with Picassa Web and see them in the browser instead.

Finally looking at voice recognition and control. “Voice is such an integral feature of the phone experience… we looked at the software and wanted to take it to the next level”

Launched “Search by Voice” in 2009 – could speak your search criteria rather than type – then followed it with “Launch Command” on the Verizon DROID

Demonstrating that now, showing a search for IKEA and giving turn-by-turn directions to the nearest store after just two taps, including spoken directions.

“We said, you know what, that’s pretty awesome… what if I could enable every text box with that too? Compose a whole email just by speaking it”

Every text field in Android 2.1 is voice-enabled; he’s demonstrating speaking a voice memo and it’s worked – round of applause!

It’s running on the backend, all server-processed, and the server learns from your past voice entry to improve accuracy

Now demonstrating Google Earth for Android – not released yet, but just a “sneak peak”

Can spin the Earth around with a fingertip, together with zoom and panning. It’s very fast!

The Android version also supports birds-eye view with “flying” through the landscape

btw, we’re told the Google Nexus One order page is up now! https://www.google.com/phone/choose?locale=en_US&s7e
$529 unlocked; $179 with a T-Mobile USA contract. “Coming Spring 2010″ to Verizon and Vodafone (in Europe).

Google Earth demo on Android is getting applause – you can say a location “Mount Fuji” and it will take you there!

“The Google Nexus One is the first product from a series of devices from our partners”

Nexus One will be sold “using an efficient way for users to select Android devices”

“Simple offering of plans from operators, and simple delivery and start-up of your device. From the webstore you can buy a phone without service or buy a phone subsidized with a carrier partner” Go to google.com/phone

Today you can buy it from T-Mobile – $179 subsidized – but in Spring 2010 you can buy it from Verizon Wireless in the US and from Vodafone in Europe

“We’re really excited that we can offer a choice for consumers”. Depending on where you are in the world you can either buy subsidized model or just unlocked phone

Online interface also lets you take a 3D tour and zoom in closely to the handset

Unsubsidized Nexus One is $529

The whole purchasing and provisioning system is integrated with Google’s online store – you can order the phone, service and activate it all online. No need to go into the store.

It’s possible to buy the Nexus One today – it comes with a Nexus One phone case, wall charger, and USB cable and has free shipping in the US

You need a Google account and a Google Checkout account to order

Now going through the purchasing process. First stage is adding up to 2 lines of engraving – the system shows you what it’ll look like on a picture of the Nexus One back panel

Then have to add in payment method, shipping address, check terms of sale, and then that’s it – only the confirmation page after that. “It’s really that quick and easy”

Currently the Nexus One is available SIM-free and unlocked in the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong (as well as the US of course)

Google aim to add more countries and carriers in the future

Going over a recap of what they’ve announced: new phone and a new way of buying them through the webstore in partnership with carrier and hardware partners. More operators and more devices (HTC, Motorola and others) coming, together with more countries

You can find out more Google Nexus One news at google.com/phone

We’ll be picking up our Nexus One later today, and will bring you hands-on footage and feedback asap!

Now showing a demo video about the Nexus One

UI looks a lot like what we’ve already seen on the DROID; we’ll have to see exactly how different it is later on today

Video is over, no applause but maybe people are getting ready for the Q&A

Andy Rubin and Peter Chou are up on stage

Q. Why only 512MB for app storage?
A. “One of the reasons is because we protect developers from software privacy. In a future release we’ll allow for software encryption on a memory card”

Q. Does the Nexus One ship today?
A. Yes, it ships today on T-Mobile and unlocked
Q. Can you only use it with T-Mobile?
A. No, you can put any GSM SIM in there – including AT&T – but since AT&T uses a different 3G frequency you’ll only get EDGE

Q. What do you say about the Nexus One to iPhone users? Is this an iPhone killer?
A. We’re calling it a Superphone – choice is a very good thing.
Chou: “We think this is a great phone, one of the best”

Q. Whose inventory does the unlocked phone come from? What are you going to do about better advertizing Android as a cross-platform identity?
A. Google is the merchant, HTC supplies manufacturing and logistics.
Regarding marketing of the Android Market, initially it will be online. We will use all our latest online ad tools, not just about the Android Market but about all elements of the Nexus One.

Q. Why was it necessary for Google to design the phone – why couldn’t it be an HTC phone running the new features of Android? And, will the new features be coming to the DROID?
A. HTC did a really great job designing the phone; Google are just merchandizing it, we’re retail. Everybody will get Android 2.1

Q. You talk about choice; what would convince a user to buy a Nexus One rather than an iPhone?
A. Well, that’s choice right there. We want to innovate and give consumers a better buying experience.

A. Choice will also come with more devices, more carriers and more countries.

Google Earth Demo on Nexus On (Video)

Q. Google is known for many things, retailing isn’t one of them. Can you detail how you guys will make a dent in a tough business to get into?
A. We shouldn’t focus on retailing; Android is about an ecosystem of partnerships. It’s about bringing out a great phone that showcases our software and gives consumers choice.

Q. What are the revenue opportunities for Google? Is it a piece of every phone sold, is it merely pushing Android, is it advertizing?
A. Our primary business is ads. From a performance perspective, the Nexus One operates like a 5yr old laptop, it’s the next stage in mobile access and we want a part of it. We’re not trying to make a margin on the phones themselves. The people using the web store will be the people using Google everyday already.

Q. Will the Nexus One support tethering? Will it support WiFi?
A. Yes to WiFi, tethering will be supported

Q. How will you make sure operators will cope with the increase of data use?
A. Eventually that’s up to the carriers to decide, to make sure they have capacity. We’ll eventually offer a choice of carriers so you can choose whichever service is best for where you are

Google Nexus One Demo Video

To clarify, tethering WON’T be enabled at first; it will follow on afterwards

A. Like everything else, technology marches on: eventually there will be Android phones with 4G available through the Google web store.

Q. If this is the “best phone” you can design, and it doesn’t have a physical keyboard, does that mean the physical keyboard is dead? And, will Google offer other products online in future?
A. Chou: HTC’s strategy is to offer a range of products, so people can choose the best-fit for them. This design focuses on the screen and form-factor, and has one of the best on-screen keyboard experiences. “We also have keyboard designs as well” – not clear if that’s a keyboard version of the Nexus One, or other handsets in HTC’s range.

A. Also, this is not the only device to be part of this program. There will be different ways to input information: we’ll look at different options of device to be included. Consumers will have lots of choices including outside of the Google web store, such as the DROID.
As for other products, right now other mobile phones “based on the experience we want to offer”

A. Not going to comment about other potential products being sold through Google – they joked about “electric cars”

Q. What about other Android phones?
A. We’ll be sure to pick devices that showcase the future of Android – today’s smartphone is tomorrow’s featurephone. We also want to make sure we remain a pure and simple purchasing experience – we don’t want to flood with different devices

Q. Will internationally shipped Nexus One devices support multitouch, and why is there a limitation in the US?
A. It’s not a limitation, it’s basically how quickly we can enable the web store [They're talking there about the US-only store, not the multitouch I think]. Devices are shipped from the US.
They’re “considering” adding multitouch support in future.

Q. Any idea when Google Voice might launch publicly? What “more devices” are coming – will there be something “more awesome” next month, or will you be working like Palm and filling different niches?
A. You’ll have to wait a long time for the next one. We went from 1 device to 20 in less than a year; things move fast. If you want a great phone today, the Nexus one is a great phone today.
With regards other phones, there will be other handsets; someone asked about keyboard data entry, we want to make sure we’re innovating as much as possible with software and hardware.

Google Nexus One Demo Video #2

Q. What happens if you have existing service with an operator?
A. If you click on T-Mobile you’re asked “Are you an existing customer? If so, do you want a new number or do you want to port your number?” – provide a minimum amount of info which T-Mo use to check what plan you qualify for; get an example of what your first month bill would look like, and then end up on the normal page. According to T-Mo’s upgrade policy for the plan you’re on, you’ll see a pro-rated price for the Nexus One.

Q. Google said they’d never do a “me too” product – but this pricing structure is boring, it’s like everything out there; why no ad-supported? “I want the revolution – where is it?”
A. I think the pricing plans are exciting when you consider them globally. Before you revolutionize the world, you have to have a mechanism by which you are selling a product. Baby step is establishing an online store and selling through that – then you enhance it in the future

Q. Most consumers like to feel a phone in-store – what are you thoughts about the importance of physical retail, and will you have Nexus One hardware at your carrier partners’ stores?
A. We wanted to remain pure and simple; initially we’re marketing in an online-only way. We’ve done work to get you as close to the phone as possible. Whatever makes sense to consumers as to how they want to buy, we’ll consider.

Q. How are you differentiating between Superphones and Smartphones? Will the Verizon Nexus One have CDMA and GSM, or just CDMA?
A. Difference is evolution of platform: openness together with marketplaces and app stores. Processor speed, “gigabyte storage” that didn’t exist a few years ago. “This is as powerful as your laptop was 4yrs ago – you’re carrying it in your pocket and it’s always on”.
Some of the subsequent phones will be dual-mode for global roaming between CDMA/GSM/HSPA (doesn’t sound like the initial Nexus One on Verizon will be)

Update on Android Market: about 20,000 apps right now, it’s also “relatively open” with little in the way between developers coding and getting their apps online. Most recently we announced ability to purchase apps via your monthly bill.

Q. The DROID is a great phone, but aren’t you afraid that the Nexus One will eat into its sales?
A: [Sanjay from MOTO]: Both are great phones; Peter and I compete in the marketplace to build the best product we can. We’ll update DROID to latest Android version, and we’ll bring something out after the Nexus One to keep competing

Q. Is the Nexus One a threat to existing Android hardware developers? Could HTC predict sales and how it will compare with WinMo sales?
A. [MOTO]: No, it’s about pushing the market
[HTC]: Competition brings out a better offering; this is good for the industry. We’re working together to make things better.
It’s hard to predict with a new product; we’re confident in this product.
[MOTO]: Peter and I compete, but we both support the ecosystem: Android is the fastest growing ecosystem, and it growing is good for all of us

Q. What’s broken about the current experience of buying a phone? Why did carriers back this business model rather than their own?
A. Efficiency is one of the things we’re trying to optimize here. If you’re a US carrier you try to reach the person the phone is appropriate for, you advertise, etc. The webstore is similar to how a digital camera sale online works: chances are there’s someone you know with the camera you’re considering, so you have different ways to experience it, rather than just a physical store.
As for efficiency, when you cast a wide net with TV adverts, it costs a lot of money – that increases service plan and device prices. We know that we can relatively easily connect to consumers; over time we hope we can cut down prices by leveraging that connection.

A. We have two other carriers coming; it’s just a matter of integrating the IT. We’re in discussions with other operators to involve them in the webstore (won’t reveal who)

Q. There are a lot of phones with different versions of Android – which phones will get upgrades to future Android versions?
A. [HTC]: We plan for some of our existing models to upgrade to Android 2.1
Q. But can existing users plan on getting, say, Android 2.5?
A. Obviously there are a lot of nuances here. My PC from 4yrs ago can’t run Windows 7. The Nexus One can show 3D graphics; older phones can’t. The intention is that everybody gets some degree of future-proofing. We’ll do the very best we can.
[MOTO]: We have the intention to upgrade every device to the best version of the software that that hardware can run. Android 2.1 has very 3D-intensive software, not every device can run that. To the extent that it can, we will support it. All the APIs are kept consistent so all Android Market apps will work. Being 100% backward compatible stifles and slows development. You don’t want to slow down development; Android 2.1 could’ve used less 3D, but then it wouldn’t have been the best it could be.

A. Look at, say, the G1 – that’s had more updates than rivals have had in its lifespan

Q. Will unlocked CDMA handsets be available?
A. That’s complicated. The Nexus One will be available with Verizon service, [but not unlocked]; the Vodafone version will be the regular GSM model.

Q. Will Google Voice be ported to the iPhone, or will you prevent it to keep an advantage to Android?
A. As for our business model, it makes sense to get as many people using Google Voice

Q. In the past you’ve basically said “there will be no Google Phone” – what happened?
A. [Rubin] I was very precise, I said we will partner. We’re software & internet guys, I think we’ve contributed a lot

Breaking for lunch now, Q&A is over. We’ll have our Google Nexus One in about 15 minutes, so expect live coverage later on today!
Thanks for joining us for the SlashGear Liveblog!

SlashGear will bring you Live coverage of “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it” Apple press event on Sept 9th 2009 at 10AM Pacific time. Live from SF.

Vincent is at the venue. I will continuously posting photos throughout the event while Vince is providing live stream to all of you.

Good morning and thanks for checking out the SlashGear Apple liveblog! It’s 9.30AM in San Francisco, with 30 minutes to go until Apple’s iPod event begins. Today we’re expecting new iPods, obviously, together with iTunes 9 – however in the past 24 hours we’ve heard talk of camera module shortages and even the possibility that the new iPod touch has been dropped from this morning’s event.

It’s also the first time we’ll be using our new push-update liveblog system, so let us know in the SlashGear forums how it’s working out for you: http://discuss.slashgear.com/

What we’re not expecting this morning is the Apple Tablet. Although we’ve heard plenty of rumors about the device, it’s not predicted to arrive until early in 2010.

We’re inside and we’re sat down! Apple have generously supplied WiFi this morning, so we won’t need the mifi too much. Music comes courtesy first of Aerosmith and now Green Day, and it’s LOUD.

There’s just ten minutes to go until the event begins.

Five minutes to go.

Apple has already revealed one feature – iTunes LP – and they’ve confirmed you’ll need iTunes 9 to use it.

Voiceover has asked us to take seats and turn off cellphones – we’re about to get started

Music now is The Rolling Stones – only minutes to go until they’re due to start

Lights are dimming and the music is “It’s Only Rock and Roll (But I Like It)” by The Rolling Stones

Steve Jobs is on stage!

There’s already been a standing ovation for him.

Jobs: “Thank you very much”.
He’s giving time for the applause to die down.

I’m very happy to be here today. As some of you know, I had a liver transplant five months ago. I now have the liver of a person in their mid-20s who died in a car-crash; who was generous enough to donate their organs”

Phil Schiller and Jeff Robbin (VP of iTunes engineering) are coming out to talk about iPhone – they’ve sold 30 million of them in just over 2 years.

“I wouldn’t be here without that generosity. I’d like to thank everybody in the Apple community for their support. So I’m vertical, back at Apple, loving every day. Today we get to talk about music:

One of the reasons for the success is the App Store, and they’ve seen 1.8bn downloads and over 750,000 apps listed.

Annoucning iPhone OS 3.1 today

Includes a “Genius” function which now recommends applications from the app store depending on what you’ve already tried – borrowed same tech from music recommendations

Jobs is demonstrating Genius on iPhone – it’s a new section in the App Store

iPhone OS 3.1 is available to download now, and will be free to both iPhone and iPod touch users

Second new addition in iPhone OS 3.1 is ringtones in the iTunes store, and they’ll be $1.29 each – “a breakthrough price”

Now turning to music. iTunes is the number 1 music retailer in the world, and active in 23 countries

They’ve sold over 8.5bn songs and have more than 100m accounts on iTunes, each with a registered credit card. Today comes iTunes 9.

It’s the next major release, and they’ve “cleaned it up and made it easier to navigate around”

It includes the latest version of Genius, which has gotten smarter thanks to all the people who have submitted their libraries. Over 27m submitted, each with approx 2,000 tracks, and Apple analyzed them all.

Now applying that to Genius Mixes – an automatic radio station integrated into iTunes 9. You click on a mix and it starts playing “and will go on and on and on”

Next up is new syncing; not only can you sync a playlist, but you can also sync according to artists or genre. e.g. you can sync just Rolling Stones tracks.

You can now also manage and organize your iPhone/iPod touch apps in iTunes 9

All done by check-boxes in the new Sync page – lists your artists, genres and playlists, or lets you choose “entire music library”

Also new is “Home Sharing” which will make it easy to copy songs, TV shows and other content between up to 5 computers in your house. All done by drag & drop, with a list of the computers you can access.

That gives you control over how homescreens are laid out, and you can move your apps around the screens. Then sync it all over to the iPhone itself.

You can choose to filter lists on other machines by what tracks aren’t in your own library, to make it easy to manage.

They’ve also redesigned the iTunes Store, and it has new artist pages and new TV pages. Plus iTunes LP – as we heard about just before the event – which includes photography and other details along with the album.

Steve is asking if people – like him – remember the days of LPs, and enjoying the album art and sleeve notes

They’ve included lyrics and text about the album and artist, together with photos and other information. They really want you to buy the whole thing, rather than just cherry-pick tracks individually.

Jeff Robbin is coming on stage to demonstrate iTunes 9

Jeff’s favorite feature is App Organization, he says, so he’s starting with that

You basically see a list on the left of your applications, ordered either alphabetically, by category or date, and then your iPhone homescreen panes on the right

If you want to rearrange an app you click it and drag it; plus you can select multiple apps and drag them at the same time. You can drag on the same screen, or to another homescreen

Meanwhile if you want to take apps off your iPhone there’s the usual X, or you can double click them in the list to send them back over.

Next up is Home Sharing, and Jeff is showing it working with his wife’s list

It’s not just music, TV shows and video that’s available, but applications as well

You can choose to automatically transfer new purchases from different categories – music, movies TV, audiobooks, apps – from one computer to another.

Or you can manually grab and drag content to your own playlist – Jeff is saying it’s much better than streaming in that respect

Now moving onto the new iTunes Store

“It’s got a clean look” and it certainly does look better than how iTunes is laid out today

In fact it looks quite a bit like Apple checked out what Microsoft were doing with the Zune: images are bigger, and there are more previews than before

You can preview albums and individual tracks in the main music section rather than having to switch into the individual pages, and there are new arrows next to “buy” which allow you to gift the track or send it to a wishlist that can be published automatically on Facebook or Twitter

Now moving onto iTunes LP, and demonstrating some of that functionality

He’s demonstrating with the Doors album

It’s a lot more interactive than a regular album sleeve, and has not only lyrics but big, high-quality images, links to band timelines and memorabilia

There are biographies and interviews with band members, plus the music video for Break On Through

Now switched over to looking at a Dave Matthews album, and there’s actual hand-drawn artwork from Matthews himself, with new pictures for each track.

Looks like there’s plenty of scope for bands and artists to put forward content for iTunes LP, so that they can try to sell more entire albums rather than just individual stand-out tracks

They’ve also done a similar thing for movies, called iTunes Extras, which has the sort of extra content you’d find on a DVD, plus interactive content

Steve Jobs is back on stage

He says iTunes 9 is available today. Now moving onto iPods, and Phil Schiller is coming up to discuss them

“If you haven’t heard” says Phil, “the iPod has been a big hit”. They’ve sold over 220m of them to-date, and that figure is growing. iPod is at 73.8% of market share

They’ve sold over 20m iPod touch units: “it’s remarkable that this amazing technology is taking off so quickly”

They have a pie-chart to show that – Sandisk have 7.2% and Microsoft 1.1%

In fact the iPod touch is the fastest growing product in the line; they’ve also sold 30m iPhones, so they’re counting it as a success for touchscreen-based devices

They credit the success to integrated WiFi, iTunes onboard – so it’s great for discovering new music

He’s talking about the ease of finding new tracks, such as Green Day’s album, directly on the iPod touch

Including access to Genius Mixes – now showing a Pop Mix on-screen, with Rihanna and Fergie coming up when triggered by Michael Jackson and Madonna

“It’s a great pocket computer – if you can get on WiFi you can get onto the internet and have a desktop-like experience”

“Not everybody’s computer can fit into your pocket” – there’s a picture of a Dell netbook ripping open someone’s back pocket on-screen

Now talking about it’s potential as a gaming machine – comparing to the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS

For instance, neither of those two have multitouch, they have expensive games, there’s no App Store and no iPod functionality.
“When the PSP and DS came out they seemed cool, but once you play on the iPod touch they don’t stack up any more”

Chart showing 607 games available for PSP, 3,680 for DS and 21,178 for iPhone OS – plus they’re cheaper, you’ll pay $30-40 for a PSP game, $25-$35 for a DS game

Now playing a demo video of gaming on the iPod touch, complete with loud music soundtrack

That video went down well – this is obviously a room of casual gamers

Asking Ubisoft to come on-stage and demo some of their stuff from Assassin’s Creed

Apparently Assassin’s Creed became the fastest gaming brand ever. Its producer, Ben Mattes, is talking about the sequel and how Apple have created “a world class gaming experience”

It’s a side-scroller type title, but there’s more interaction with the environment than you’d get on a PSP/DS. For instance you can put your own images into the game, which are used as wanted posters

The iPhone/iPod touch version of the game will launch at the same time as it does on traditional gaming platforms, apparently.

Bart Decrem from Tapulous is coming up on stage to talk next

They’re different, says Phil, as they started as a dedicated iPhone/iPod touch studio. Now they’re looking to integrate music and racing.

Tapulous got 1m users in three weeks when they launched, and are announcing a new game today. It’s called Riddim Ribbon; demo’ing it with Boom Boom Pow – you race down a track (a groove in the road) to keep up with the music

Graphics are a little like Tron or Wipeout

Control is by tilting the iPod touch, and you can flick it to jump or add in custom sounds. Then, at the end, you can save the “mix” and share it with other people. Not that we know who’d want to hear it, really.

Gameloft on-stage next, and they’ve apparently seen 20m downloads from their 35 titles in the App Store today

They’re demonstrating a first-person shooter called Nova which isn’t released yet

Similar in style to Halo. You control movement/targeting with an on-screen stick.

Also supports multiplayer gaming over both Bluetooth and WiFi, and you can play iPod music in the background.

Next up is EA, and Travis Boatman is coming up on stage.

They’re bringing Madden NFL 2010 to the iPod touch/iPhone: “one of the largest franchises”

Graphics aren’t as impressive as Nova, but gameplay is all there. Showing 49ers versus Steelers

Can either control it using sticks down at field-level, or with an overview birds-eye view

Madden NFL 2010 will be available in the App Store today. Now Phil is back on stage

“I hope you agree that the iPod touch is not only a great iPod, and portable computer, but an unbelievable gaming device. It’s also the most affordable gateway to the App Store, where there’s something for everyone, an app for anything you want”

Pointing out that it’s $229 with no subscription fees

“We asked engineering to get the costs down – and when we did that, sales doubled. We learned $199 is the magic price point, and that’s what we’ll do with the iPod touch”

So from today, iPhone touch 8GB is $199. 32GB model is $299, while new 64GB model is $399. And the latter two models are now up to 50% faster, too.

They now support Open GL, just like the iPhone 3GS. Now showing a new advert for them.

The advert shows high-performance gaming on the iPod touch, in a similar style to the previous adverts – flips between different uses

It’s still being called “The funnest iPod ever.”

Next up, the iPod classic. That gets a boost from 120GB to 160GB but stays the same size and keeps the same price: $249

Next is the iPod shuffle: “the smallest music player in the world, and it’s the easiest to use”

Not sure we agree with “easiest to use”, to be honest

They’re talking about new headphones with shuffle-compatible controls, such as the Beats by Dre with their new controller (that we heard about earlier this week)

Still supports VoiceOver to announce tracks, tell you battery status, etc. Now comes in new colors – as well as black and silver, there’s metallic pink, green and blue. Plus the price is down: $59 for the 2GB model

A VIDEO CAMERA

While the 4GB iPod shuffle is $79. There’s also a special edition, which is polished stainless steel; $99 for 4GB

ONE MORE THING…

“Video has exploded over the past few years”. Talking about Flip being $149 for 4GB capacity.

But Apple are “going to start with 8GB, and we’re lowering the price to free”

Every nano is going to have a camera, built into its back

Just as the leaked images suggested, the camera is tiny and in the lower left-hand corner of the nano’s back plate, complete with a microphone and speaker. Yet still “incredibly small”

“So how good is it? Turns out, it’s great – let me show you some video”

You can either watch the footage on the nano or you can sync it to your computer; then you can send it with a single click to YouTube. If you’re using a Mac you can sync it into the apps on there for archiving or editing. They’ve sold over 100m nanos and it’s the most popular music player in the world

They’ve also put in an FM radio – which is about time – and support for Genius Mixes like in iTunes 9 and the iPod touch OS 3.1

Plus there’s an integrated pedometer, which can be sync’d with a Nike+ system, and a voice-recording app.

Goes on sale today, priced at $149 for the 8GB model and $179 for the 16GB model.

The display is bigger, at 2.2-inches, and there are new colors in polished anodized aluminum. Also gets VoiceOver and of course that FM radio/pedometer/video camera

Colors look to be red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, dark blue, graphite, silver and pink

Now showing the new advert, which is basically people dancing, being filmed on the nano, and generally loving their new iPod

Steve is back on stage, and he’s talking environmental issues. The iPods are all BRF-free, use arsenic-free glass, are mercury and PVC free, and are recyclable

Norah Jones is going to be playing the event out

She’s coming on-stage. So altogether today we’ve had iTunes 9, the new iPhone OS 3.1 for iPhone and iPod touch, OpenGL 2.0 support on the faster, larger-capacity iPod touch 32GB and 64GB, together with cheaper, more colorful iPod shuffles (and a limited edition, polished version). Oh, and the new iPod nano with FM radio, camera, video recording, and pedometer.

Nothing on the iPod touch with camera rumors, but it’s unclear whether that’s because Apple don’t want to cannibalize sales of the iPhone or if they’re having technical problems as reported earlier in the week.

Looks like that’s everything from today; thanks for joining us on the liveblog. We apologize for the shortage of live images; we’re having problems with our Eye-Fi card here at the event. Keep an eye out on the SlashGear front page for all the news from today.

Phil Schiller coming on stage.
There are set to be 5,200 developers attending WWDC, from 54 countries.

Phil: “Can’t you feel the love in this room?”
Showing us a graphic of OS X user growth from 2002 to 07
“Something incredible has happened over the last two years” Number of active users has tripled to 75m users

Apple and customers are in love with the new MacBook design
They’re announcing a new version of the 15-inch MacBook Pro
Unibody chassis, built-in battery up to 7hrs runtime – up from 5hrs

Plus more environmentally friendly. They can squeeze 1,000 recharge cycles out of the battery, rather than 300 from the old battery tech
It’s “just as thin and just as light” as the old machine and it has the “nicest display we’ve ever put in a notebook”
They’ve dropped the expresscard slot and replaced it with an SD Card slot!

Something people have been asking for for a long time. Apparently only “single digit” customers used expresscard slot. SD is a standard now, it’s the fastest notebook Apple have ever made

With up to a 3.06GHz dual core CPU and up to 8GB of DDR3 memory, up to 500gb of traditional hard-drive or 256GB of SSD
Starts at $1,699, which is lower than the model it replaces by $300, in fact

$1,699 gets you a 2.53GHz model with 4GB RAM, 250GB hard-drive, 9400M graphics and SD
$1,999 steps up to the 2.6GHz model – same ram but 320GB hard-drive and dual 9400M and 9600M GT graphics
$2,299 gets you 2.8GHz, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard-drive and the dual graphics

Also, 17-inch MBP gets an update, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard-drive plus the 9400M and 9600M GT graphics together with a price cut of $300 to $2,499
They’ll both ship today, 15 and 17 inch MBP. New 13-inch MacBook too Built-in battery and new display

The 13-inch model is being absorbed into the MacBook Pro range and will cost $1,199
Basic model gets a 2.25GHz processor, just 2GB of DDR3 ram, 9400m graphics, 160GB hard-drive
Step up to $1,499 and you get 2.53GHz, 4GB of DDR3, 9400m graphics and the SD card slot – Both models are available to buy today

MacBook Air is next to get an upgrade. Price cut by $300 to $1,499 for the 1.86Ghz model. The SSD version goes down to $1,799 – a cut of $700. The SSD Air has the 2.13GHz processor as standard, and 128GB of storage

Betrand Sorre taking the stage
“Great hardware deserves great software”
“What a sharp contrast with Vista our OS is”
“Leopard is the most successful software product Apple has ever had”
“By far the best OS written for the majority of customers, even more complexity is present in Windows 7 – the same old tech as Vista, just another version”

They’re adding Exchange support to it and UI of Finder hasn’t changed but it’s now been rewritten in Cocoa
The icons draw faster, trash empties quicker, describing it as refining 90% of the OS; cancellations happen faster, icon previews are better, and animations are improved.
They’ve built Expose into the dock and the overall installation process has speeded up by 45%, plus, you’ll get 6GB back from your hard-drive once you install Snow Leopard, as it compresses system files

They’ve changed the PDF handling to better cope with text selection “We used a little bit of AI” Mail also gets a speed boost in Snow Leopard.
Shipping Safari 4 for Leopard, Tiger and Windows today; it’s 7.8x faster than IE8. Passes all 100 of the Acid 3 tests, the standard for today’s browsers. IE8 gets 21 out of 100, Safari gets new “crash resistance” mainly from a better way of handling plugins

Talking about new Quicktime version, “Quicktime X”, it supports color sync and hardware acceleration, HTTP streaming
Modern foundation, gets a slick new icon
“Super efficient” HTTP streaming works with any server and they’ve given the UI a makeover too

Snow Leopard upgrade is priced at $29, Family Pack upgrade costs $49. It’ll be available in September

Now moving onto the iPhone, Scott Forstall coming on-stage
Apple released the native SDK less than a year ago, so that devs could create “truly native” applications
There are now more than 50,000 apps in the App Store and has sold more than 40m iPhones and iPod touches, and the apps run on all of them

29 carriers will support iPhone MMS at launch. AT&T will be ready for MMS at the end of the summer
Now talking about spotlight search across iPhone – searching calendars, music, notes, email

Now talking about tethering “this allows you to share your connection with your computer”. It works with Mac and Pc, over USB or Bluetooth
“it is a seamless experience” – no tethering software on your computer, once it’s on. Requires carrier support, unsurprisingly tethering has 22 partners in 44 countries and ominously no mention of AT&T (no AT&T tethering at OS 3.0 launch)

Safari Mobile on iPhone gets support for HTTP streaming audio/video works through firewalls – auto-adjusts for your connection speed, javascript is 3x faster
Safari can also auto fill forms based on your contacts data plus there’s password autofill , HTML 5 support, support for video and audio tags
support more than 30 languages from korean, thai, arabic, greek, hebrew, all get added in OS 3.0

New “Find my iPhone” feature. “if you’ve ever lost or misplaced your phone, it can be traumatic”
Liz Lemon has used her iPhone to take “intimate” photos… and lost the phone. With find My iPhone is a MobileMe service you can log into MobileMe from any browser, and it will locate your iPhone on a map.

Sending a message to your iPhone makes it bleep, whether or not you left it in silent mode plus you can have an on-screen message show, with a number that you specify. In a worse-case scenario, you can remotely wipe it

“This is the most powerful, fastest iPhone ever made”. The iPhone 3G S.
The new iPhone has the same design as the 3G but 2.4x faster at games, messaging is 2.1x faster, excel 3.6x faster, nytimes loads are 2.9x faster, 3x faster javascript
Compared to iphone 3g, javascript scores in SunSpider at 15s for the 3GS, 43s for the 3G
It supports 7.2Mbps HSDPA and gets a new 3-megapixels camera with autofocus. Overall it’s roughly 2x faster than the iPhone 3G

They’ve also improved battery life with up to 5hrs 3g talktime, 9hrs of internet over WiFi, 10hrs of video playback, 30hrs audio, 12hrs 2g talktime
It is greener too, 23% smaller packaging

The iPhone 3GS is $199 for the 16GB version and $299 for the 32GB model. This are the AT&T prices for the US market. It comes in white and black.

iPhone 3G stays on the market for $99 starting from today. The iPhone 3GS available on June 19th. It’ll be available in over 80 countries by August. US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and UK get the iPhone 3GS on June 19th

Catch our full coverage of WWDC 2009 product announcement on SlashGear.com

Reviews of MacBook Pro/MacBook & iPhone 3GS coming soon on SlashGear.com

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