It’s been months in the making, and today we finally have confirmation from Apple, as well as a few squashed rumors. Apple has released theiPhone 4S today, as well as iOS 5 and the addition of Sprint in the company’s lineup of US carriers.
Funny enough,we got confirmationof the 4S name via Apple’s own Japanese store site, less than an hour before launch. Most of these rumors were nailed down prior to today’s event, but it’s good to finally get completely confirmation. That said, here’s a rundown of everything that happened today, plus links to our coverage for the specifics.
The Business of Apple
CEO Tim Cook opened, taking the stage with the obvious statement of “this is my first prouct launch since being named CEO”. The event is being held in what Apple calls the Town Hall. It is the place where the original iPod was launched, 10 years ago.
“Today we’ll remind you of the uniqueness of this company as we announce innovations from our mobile OS, to applications, to services, to hardware, and more importantly the integration of all these into a powerful, simple, integrated experience.”
Cook goes on to talk about the “enormous momentum of Apple, specifically the retail stores. Cook then highlights the year to date for Apple:
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Retail Stores
The iPod
The iPhone
The iPad
iOS
iOS 5
iOS 5 willland on October 12th, 2 days before the launch of the new iPhone and it will be a free update.
What’s new aside from whatwe already know?
Cards
Apple is introducing a new application that allows you to design cards on your iPhone, then have them mailed to anywhere:
“Apple is literally going to mail things, physically, for you. You create the card on your iPhone and we’ll do the rest.”
Friends and Family App
Free with iOS 5 and for Lion users. Locate your friends and family with your iPhone. Ourfull coverage is here.
The rest of iOS 5, we havedetailed pretty deeply. In short you can expect big changes to the following:
The iPod
Phil Schiller took the stage to talk about the iPod, stating that he wanted to give updates on 2 of the lines today.
The iPod Nano touchgets a refresh, with Nike+ built in, 16 new clock faces and will be available for $129 and $149 in 8 and 16-gigabyte versions respectively.
The iPod touch, inarguably Apple’s #1 selling iPod, alsogets an update. iOS 5 gives great updates, as does iCloud, both of which help you to do more and save space. The touch model iPod is now available in white, for $199, $299 and $399 for 8, 16 and 32-gig models.
The iPhone
And now for the announcement we’ve all been waiting to hear, Apple tells us about the iPhone 4S (full details are here). It has the same design as the iPhone 4, but inside it is “all new”.
The iPhone 4S will cost $199, $299 and $399 for 16, 32 and 64 gigabyte versions, respectively. The 8-gig iPhone 4 goes to $99 and the 3GS will be free, all on 2-year contracts. The date? As we called it, October 14th, with a pre-order on October 7th.
So there’s your roundup of everything that happened today, including links to the fine-point details. Want to make sure you caught up with every little bit? Check out all of our posts from today’s Let’s Talk iPhone event byclicking here.
Story byBrad McCarty
A music and tech junkie who calls Nashville home, Brad is the Director TNW Academy. You can follow him on Twitter @BradMcCarty.(show all)A music and tech junkie who calls Nashville home, Brad is the DirectorTNW Academy. You can follow him on Twitter@BradMcCarty.
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