Hussen yum aa Zmx-ees: "Let's Talk iPhone"

"Let's Talk iPhone"

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2:39PM We're off to get hands-on, and we'll be broadcasting again soon. Thanks for joining the fun!

2:38PM Sorry folks, no iPhone 5... yet....

2:38PM Wow, that's it!

2:38PM "I am so incredibly proud of this company and all of the teams who work so hard to bring all of the innovations you've seen today."

2:37PM "Now, when you look at each of these, they're great and fantastic and industry leading in and of themselves..." Tim is slowing down. Things are building up. "What puts Apple way out front is how they're engineered to work together so well."

2:37PM Called the iPhone 4S "the most amazing iPhone ever." But for how long?

2:36PM Tim is back, re-capping things.

2:36PM "And that's the iPhone 4S. Thank you."

2:36PM On the 28th -- 22 more countries, and 70 countries by the end of the year. Over 100 carriers. "Fastest rollout ever."

2:36PM Sprint gets an iPhone!

2:35PM It'll hit US, Canada, Australia, the UK, France, Germany, and Japan. In the US, it'll be Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint!

2:35PM Pre-orders for the 4S start this friday, the 7th. Available on October 14th.

2:35PM The 3GS and iPhone 4 will live on. The 4 is now $99 for 8GB. The 8GB 3GS will be free -- on contract.

2:34PM Yes, that's with a carrier agreement.

2:34PM Phil's back. Black and white versions 16GB: $199, 32GB for $299, 64GB for $399.

2:34PM This video is still going, by the way. Hyperbole is flying around. It's incredible, amazing, gorgeous.

2:32PM By the way, the antenna design looks like the current Verizon version, with the same basic groove placement.

2:32PM We're still waiting for the big info: price and availability. Will this phone hit every carrier?

2:31PM Great?

2:31PM More demonstrations of Siri, including a guy booking meetings while running, Siri warning that he has a conflict. Meeting moved, dude didn't even have to lose his stride. Now you can even work while you're working out.

2:29PM Running down the specs again, new processor, new camera, all on a white background of course.

2:29PM "We're really excited about the iPhone 4S." They've made a video to show it off. Yeah, it's commercial time.

2:29PM Sounds like that's it for the iPhone 4S... Phil is giving us the run-down again. Question is: will we have one more thing?

2:28PM Works for English (US, UK, and Australia) plus French and German. It'll be beta to start, but there'll be more languages and services coming.

2:28PM It works out of the box, but "gets better" as it learns your voice.

2:28PM In other words: data connection most certainly required.

2:27PM Phil is back. There's now a microphone next to the space bar in the keyboard, and you can do dictation. It's similar to Android, in that it's happening remotely.

2:27PM So that's Siri. Scott's off the stage. "And that is the coolest feature of the new iPhone 4S."

2:26PM Scott asks, "Who are you?" Siri says, "I am a humble personal assistant." Humble for now, maybe. That round of applause might change things.

2:26PM ...searching the web, setting timers, and asking more obscure stuff that gets routed through WolframAlpha. "It'll absolutely blow you away."

2:25PM You can get a list of examples of what you can do, including meetings, emails, directions, weather, stocks, looking up contacts, creating notes...

2:24PM Scott says, "Get shopping." Apparently, Siri won't do that for you.

2:24PM "How many days are there until Christmas?" Siri says: 82 days. Also, 2 months, 21 days, 11 weeks, 5 days, 58 weekdays, and .22 years.

2:24PM We'll all be impressed until Siri becomes sentient. Then... well, we'll see.

2:23PM Scott's going on a bit here, but we're still impressed.

2:23PM "Define mitosis." Siri hits up WolframAlpha and spits back a definition.

2:22PM "Search Wikipedia for Neil Armstrong." Suddenly, our nation's greatest American is up on screen, looking like a man's man in his space suit.

2:22PM Siri not only remembers, Siri knows.

2:22PM Scott's creating a reminder -- "Remind me to call my wife when I leave work." Siri asks to confirm and makes the reminder. Siri already knew who his wife is, and set up a geo-fence around work.

2:21PM Scott then made a calendar appointment -- all by talking. This is, seriously, some impressive stuff happening here.

2:21PM Siri always remembers.

2:20PM Siri automatically creates a text message, and asks if he wants to send it off to Phil. Note that Scott didn't need to say Phil -- Siri remembered.

2:20PM Scott then asked Siri whether he had any appointments. Siri said he did not, and so Scott then said, "Reply 'I can do Friday.'"

2:20PM Just hold down the button on the headset and say, "Read my message" and Siri does so. Dutifully, obediently.

2:19PM Scott's talking about receiving a text message while your phone is in your pocket, and you're wearing a Bluetooth headset.

2:19PM "Give me directions to Hoover Tower." Siri brings up Maps, shows the route, and you're good to go.

2:18PM Evvia Estiatorio, you win! That place will probably be hopping later today.

2:18PM "Find me a great Greek restaurant in Palo Alto." Siri says (courtesy of Yelp) that she found 14 -- sorted by rating.

2:17PM Scott said that, not Siri, but she probably agrees.

2:17PM "It's that easy."

2:17PM "Wake me up tomorrow at 6am." Siri responds, "Okay, I set it for 6am."

2:17PM "What time is it in Paris?" Siri responds: "The time in Paris, France is 8:16pm." Siri also brings up a live clock.

2:16PM Spoken, this time, using GPS lady voice. She gets around, that gal.

2:16PM "Do I need a raincoat today?" Siri responds, "It sure looks like rain today."

2:16PM "What is the hourly forcast?" Siri responds in the same way.

2:15PM Bam, sunny and 70s. This is California, remember.

2:15PM "What is the weather like today?" Siri responds: "Here is the forecast for today."

2:15PM Scott Forstall is back up. Just hold down the home button and Siri will listen in.

2:15PM We're going to do a live voice recognition demo, despite Phil saying that's not always a good idea...

2:14PM What's Apple calling this? Siri it is.

2:14PM "Will it rain in Cupertino" or "Do I need an umbrella today?" Both the same question, but different ways of asking it.

2:14PM Phil's wishing that devices could really understand you; that you didn't have to use a restricted lingo when asking for music or searching for directions.

2:13PM Siri time?

2:13PM Phil left one thing out. "It's a feature all about your voice."

2:13PM "The most amazing iPhone yet."

2:13PM Eight megapixel, 1080p, wireless mirroring, iOS 5, the works.

2:12PM The new 4S is "entirely new" on the inside, and Phil is re-capping the specs.

2:12PM You can do it wired or wireless.

2:12PM AirPlay Mirroring is now happening, meaning you can get your gaming on the big(ger) screen.

2:11PM "To many customers, this will be the best still camera they've ever owned, and the best video camera they've ever owned."

2:11PM Color and saturation is amazing -- maybe a little over-boosted, but certainly won't disappoint those who have both rods and cones.

2:10PM More balloons -- and actors sauntering toward them.

2:10PM Video time, edited with some sound and cuts, but otherwise untweaked.

2:10PM There's video image stabilization, with temporal noise reduction.

2:09PM 1080p is on tap, no surprise. "Just the resolution you want." You hear that 4K? Nobody wants you.

2:09PM Next: video recording.

2:09PM Seriously, these are gorgeous shots, but we've seen gorgeous shots from cameraphones in the past. Hopefully, we'll see how it reacts in the real world soon enough.

2:08PM Answer? Really hard people. Really, really hard.

2:08PM We're looking at some amazing photos of balloons, flowers and squirrels. "Do you know how hard it is to make a squirrel stand still?"

2:08PM Harsh, but fair, Phil. Harsh, but fair.

2:07PM "I don't know what Droid Bionic users need to do between pictures. Maybe go get coffee?"

2:07PM The 4S? A mere 1.1 seconds for the first picture, and a half-second for the second.

2:07PM Comparison: Bionic takes 3.7 seconds for the first picture, 2.0 seconds for the Galaxy S II and 2.1 for the Sensation.

2:07PM Yes, folks, not 25 percent.

2:06PM There's a new Image Signal Processor that Apple designed, enabling face detection and 26 percent better white balance.

2:06PM "That's a lot on the camera itself, but it doesn't stop with the camera."

2:05PM And, five whole elements in the lens assembly -- 30 percent sharper, and it'll go down to f/2.4!

2:05PM There's an IR filter on there too for better, more accurate colors.

2:05PM A 60 percent boost over the iPhone 4. Phil is saying that more pixels aren't necessarily better, but it's a backside illuminated CMOS, so that means 73 percent more light. It's faster, too -- one third quicker.

2:04PM It is, indeed, an eight megapixel sensor. That's 3264 x 2448.

2:04PM Apple was competing with the "many great point and shoot cameras, so it's the one camera you really want to have with you all of the time."

2:04PM Phil's reminding us that the iPhone 4 is now the most popular camera for uploading pictures on Flickr. The 4S now has an "all new" camera.

2:03PM Now, new camera.

2:03PM "That really benefits customers a lot" -- particularly those who have racked up as many frequent flier miles as we have lately.

2:03PM Okay, now it's network time. The iPhone 4 was, of course, GSM vs. CDMA. The 4S is both -- GSM and CDMA.

2:02PM Why not some LTE options?

2:02PM Phil's taking a shot at the Atrix, Thrill and Inspire 4G. "The iPhone 4S is just as fast as these phones."

2:01PM Theoretical download speeds are now twice as fast -- 14.4Mbps versus 7.2Mbps on the iPhone 4.

2:01PM I'll let you come up with your own joke about that line.

2:01PM It will have "even better call quality."

2:01PM "Our engineering system has worked really hard at advancing the state of the art... it can now intelligently switch between the two antennas -- between transmit and receive."

2:00PM Next new feature: "the wireless system"

2:00PM Phil's addressing the battery life, and the 4S will offer eight hours of 3G talk time. Six hours of browsing, nine on WiFi. 10 hours of video, and 40 hours of music. "Fantastic battery life."

2:00PM Phil is back up. "That's a great example of what you're going to get out of the brand new iPhone 4S."

1:59PM Will be available December 1st.

1:59PM Infinity Blade is "only going to run like this on the iPhone 4S. Why? Because it's awesome."

1:59PM The demo-meister is pretending to have a hard time beating up the big guy, but it's all for show. He just gave him the slice and dice treatment.

1:58PM Game definitely looks quite good. Reflections and self-shadowing are in effect.

1:58PM A big, mean dude, I should point out.

1:58PM You can now use two swords to slice the crap out of some big dude in a mask.

1:57PM Applause for the fish. Fish and cartoon mice: very popular in this room.

1:57PM Leaves and fireflies in the air, koi swimming in the pond.

1:57PM This is using some graphical techniques from the latest Gears of War.

1:57PM We're going after the creator of the Infinity Blade. This is a realtime demo, by the way.

1:56PM "We're going to show you some graphics techniques that aren't even available on home gaming consoles."

1:56PM Epic made $20 million in revenue on Infinity Blade. Now, it's time to see Infinity Blade 2!

1:56PM Naturally games are a big part, and Mike Capps from Epic is up on stage to show off a demo.

1:55PM It's up to 2x faster than before, with dual-core graphics which are said to be seven times faster than the previous iPhone.

1:55PM It has the A5 chip!

1:55PM "Of course, it starts with a Retina display. Of course, it's glass on the back... but don't be deceived, because inside it's all new."

1:54PM "I'm really pleased to tell you today about the brand new iPhone 4S."

1:54PM Phil's reminding us that it's #1 in the world...

1:54PM "Despite competitors trying really hard to copy the iPhone 4, they haven't really been able to come close."

1:54PM Next: iPhone.

1:53PM "So that's iPod, and the iPod lineup. We love music, and we're going to continue making the world's best music players."

1:53PM 8GB is now $199, 32GB for $299, 64GB for $399. Available on October 12th.

1:52PM There's a white version coming! "It's gorgeous."

1:52PM "Wherever you are, this amazingly thin iPod can have access to all of your music, all of your books."

1:52PM "iOS 5 is a tremendous upgrade for the iPod touch, and so is iCloud."

1:51PM And, of course, it's running iOS 5. Phil is talking about how iMessage changes the way people use that device.

1:51PM Now talking iPod touch. Phil is reminding us that it's the most popular portable gaming device.

1:51PM Price drop!

1:50PM $149 for 16GB, and $129 for 8GB.

1:50PM There's a Mickey Mouse watch, too. More applause... applause for Mickey.

1:50PM Some cool ones: roman numerals, classic LCD style, color-coordinated with the shell.

1:49PM Phil's talking about watch accessories, "We thought that was really fun." So, there are 16 new clock faces. "Why not, right?"

1:49PM There's an "improved fitness experience" -- you can now go on a walk or a run "right out of the box." No extra sensors required. That goes to Nike+. No more shoe dongles.

1:48PM "We've added some updates this year." Multi-touch display can be displayed with big icons, instead of an array of four. Swipe between them, "it's really simple."

1:48PM Phil's talking about the iPod nano, a "really fun way to enjoy music wherever you are."

1:47PM Phil's here to talk iPod. "We introduced the iPod because we loved music, and that hasn't changed."

1:47PM "So that's iCloud, and I'd like to ask Phil Schiller to join us here."

1:47PM Interestingly, it's a white iPhone 4 being used. So, it's obviously not going anywhere if it's in this commercial, right?

1:46PM Looking at an iCloud commercial, buying a little Jill Scott online and downloading it to your iPhone easily. Sharing documents, picking up changes to documents, sharing photos... you know the drill.

1:45PM But, that's only in the US... they're "working hard" to bring Match to other countries.

1:45PM iCloud ships on October 12th, iTunes Match goes live at the end of the month.

1:45PM $24.99 a year for all this goodness. "And that's iTunes Match."

1:44PM You can stream your entire library by just tapping on it -- playlists, too.

1:44PM This scans your library, adds all the good stuff that iTunes has to add, and uploads anything that isn't in iTunes already.

1:43PM Eddy is talking about adding the "same benefits" of iTunes purchased music to music you've bought elsewhere.

1:43PM Now talking iTunes Match.

1:43PM iCloud is free for iOS 5 and Lion users. 5GB of online data free, but you can buy more if you want.

1:42PM And, there are parental controls too -- no creepy stalkers iStalking.

1:42PM Invite your friends to share for a few hours while they're driving to your pad, so when they call you lost, you can more easily re-route them.

1:42PM You can invite friends to share their location for a limited time, which is an interesting feature.

1:41PM Perhaps you can tell their longitude and Latitude from this application.

1:41PM You can quickly and easily see the locations of those who've opted to share their location with you.

1:41PM Oh, something new! Find My Friends.

1:40PM There's a daily backup from iCloud too -- syncs contacts across all devices, calendar events.

1:40PM Lots of wonderful things to be found in these clouds.

1:40PM Apps, too, are easily re-downloaded thanks to iCloud, books too.

1:39PM Documents in the iCloud means your docs get pushed as well. "My documents are updated across my devices." Sensing a trend here...

1:38PM Now it's photo time. "Your photos are now on your camera roll, and you wish they were on all of your devices." Pictures go up to the cloud from your iPhone and then get shot out to all your other devices.

1:37PM Eddy's reminding us that you can download and re-download your music or media anytime, and on any device.

1:37PM Having more WWDC flashbacks. Is this Moscone? What day is it?

1:36PM It's recap time again... we're talking iTunes in the iCloud.

1:36PM "It just works, and iCloud is free."

1:36PM "We've integrated it right into our apps, so everything happens automatically."

1:36PM Eddy Cue is up on stage now to talk about iCloud.

1:35PM Get your downloads going.

1:35PM iOS 5 drops on October 12th!

1:34PM Now Scott's recapping the PC Free feature, so you can activate your device without plugging in. "There's no need for a computer." And, you can get wireless iOS updates.

1:34PM We're having WWDC flashbacks. Anybody else?

1:34PM Mail updates now, adding rich formatting. Indentation, moving addresses around, flagging them... this is all really exciting stuff here.

1:33PM Full tabbed browsing is coming to the iPad, so you can go between them with one tap instead of two.

1:33PM Syncs between iOS devices -- save once, read everywhere.

1:33PM You can add it to your reading list and hit it up later.

1:33PM Now Safari updates. Talking about the reader function that strips out all the junk and pulls things into a single, readable page. "This works great on the iPad. It's fantastic on the iPhone."

1:32PM Now Game Center. Updated to add photos of friends, achievement points, friend recommendations...

1:31PM And, you can use volume up to take a photo. Not a proper shutter release, but it'll do.

1:31PM We're looking at the updated Camera app now. "We're making it really easy to get to the camera and take a photo." Double-tap on the home button and, bam, you can take a pic.

1:30PM Background downloads for new issues -- hey, that sounds like Distro. Which is coming soon, by the way...

1:30PM GQ, Allure, Vanity Fair, The New York Times... a lot of periodical powerhouses.

1:29PM And now, Newsstand.

1:29PM Twitter integration: "We have integrated Twitter deeply into the OS." No more signing in multiple times, and you can share pics right from Photos.

1:28PM Now the Reminders app. Yep, reminders. Location-aware, though, which will bug you when you're near what you need to do.

1:28PM Pushed to all devices, so you can holla from your iPhone and get a shout back on your iPad.

1:28PM Then there's iMessage -- BBM for iOS, basically.

1:27PM Swipe across any and it'll take you right there. Bam.

1:27PM There are notifications, visible from the top by swiping down -- a la Android. No more annoying popups from Tiny Tower.

1:27PM We're looking at the top 10 features of iOS 5.

1:27PM "We've already seeded 100,000 developers, and they love it. We can't wait to get it in other people's hands."

1:26PM "Let's talk about iOS 5."

1:26PM Email is still free, people, and it's the thought, not the cardstock that counts.

1:26PM $2.99 for a card in the US, $4.99 elsewhere in the world.

1:26PM That got applause. People seem desperate to clap for something. That was it.

1:25PM Apple will print it and even mail it automatically, and you'll even get a push notification when the card is delivered.

1:25PM Hallmark, you just got served.

1:25PM Real, honest to gosh cards. You pick the pic, Apple prints it out.

1:24PM We're looking at the Cards app, which lets you make your own greeting cards.

1:24PM Apple has paid out $3 billion to developers -- and, of course, has taken a tidy cut for itself.

1:24PM Yeah, with a B.

1:24PM Customers have download 18 billion apps -- more than a billion per month.

1:23PM "All of this together makes the App Store the number one store for mobile apps."

1:23PM More than 500,000 apps in the App Store. 140,000 are specifically for the iPad. "That gives anyone who owns an iPad a better experience."

1:23PM iOS is now the number one mobile operating system. 43 percent share compared to Android's 33 percent as of the July ComScore number Apple is quoting.

1:22PM Scott Forstall is up now.

1:22PM That's 250 million iPhones, iPods, iPads, etc.

1:22PM "We have passed the quarter of a billion sales mark" for iOS devices.

1:21PM iPad is the "undisputed" #1 tablet in the world. Tim says "everybody and their brother" is trying to compete, but three quarters of all tablets sold are iPads.

1:21PM 92 percent of Fortune 500 companies are testing or deploying iPads. They're not saying what they're doing with them, but they're at least buying 'em.

1:20PM iPads, iPads everywhere. iPads, iPads in your hair.

1:20PM "Over 80 percent of the hospitals in the US are now testing or piloting iPad."

1:20PM A 40 pound flight book replaced by a single iPad, making things more efficient.

1:19PM But it's not just grade schools. Colleges too. And now we're looking at flight manuals.

1:19PM That's a lot of iPads -- and a lot of peanut butter smeared on screens.

1:19PM Every state in the US has an iPad deployment program either in place or in pilot. 1,000 schools have a 1:1 program.

1:18PM iPads are "showing up everywhere," according to Tim. In schools they're "changing the way teachers teach and kids learn, and many educators agree with us."

1:18PM Now we're talking iPad. Apple's youngest category.

1:17PM Oh you tease, you.

1:17PM "More coming up on iPhone..."

1:17PM Does this mean a low-end iPhone is coming today?

1:17PM Tim's showing us now that the iPhone is five percent of the overall mobile phone market. "We look at it over time that all handsets become smartphones."

1:17PM According to a ChangeWave survey, HTC is second at 49 percent. Apple is #1 at 70 percent.

1:16PM "Customers love iPhone, and it's consistently rated #1 in every satisfaction rating I can find."

1:16PM 125 percent growth year-over-year for iPhone sales.

1:15PM The iPhone 4 now makes up half of the overall iPhone market, showing just how much the market is growing.

1:15PM That's a safe bet, Tim.

1:15PM "Next up is iPhone. This could be the reason why the room is so full today."

1:15PM It's the number one music store in the world with 16 billion songs downloaded.

1:14PM iTunes is now up to 20 million songs -- twenty times what the service launched with.

1:14PM Amazingly, almost half are going to people buying their first iPod.

1:14PM "iPod is still a large and important market for Apple." 45 million iPods from July 2010 to June 2011.

1:13PM Over 300 million iPods have been sold. "It took Sony 30 years to sell 220,000 Walkman cassette players."

1:13PM Market share for iPod? A neat 78 percent.

1:12PM "It reminded all of us how much we love music, and made it simple to enjoy again."

1:12PM Now we're talking music. Tim's reminding us that the iPod launched in 2001 before "revolutionizing the industry."

1:12PM He's talking metaphorically. The ceiling here isn't actually that high.

1:12PM "There are still 77 percent of people who are buying something else. What does that mean? We have an incredibly high ceiling here. We have a long way to go."

1:12PM About one in four, give or take a few percentage points.

1:11PM The net result? 23 percent market share for Apple as of August.

1:11PM This is a trend that dates back five whole years, with Apple approaching 60 million Mac users worldwide.

1:11PM The Mac platform has grown by 23 percent since last year. The PC? Four percent.

1:10PM "The MacBook Pro and the iMac are the number one best selling notebook and desktop in the United States."

1:10PM Hear that, Intel? Tim's got your Ultrabook number.

1:10PM At the same time Apple announced the new Air, which is "thin and light and beautiful and wicked fast -- our customers love it and our competitors have been trying to copy it."

1:09PM We're comparing to Windows 7 -- it took 20 weeks to reach 10 percent of the Windows install base. It took Lion two weeks.

1:09PM Six million copies of Lion downloaded so far -- 80 percent more than Snow Leopard.

1:09PM Quoting Mossberg, saying that Lion is the "best operating system out there."

1:08PM First is the Mac, and of course OS X Lion is the big news on that front.

1:08PM "Our products are at the core of everything we do." Tim's going to walk us through all four of them.

1:08PM 357 total stores in 11 countries, and many, many more are coming to "raise the bar at retail."

1:07PM Video over and Tim's back. "I think I've watched that video 100 times and I think I could watch it 100 more."

1:07PM Lots of happy faces -- and lots of Apple bags stuffed with white boxes, it must be said.

1:07PM And lots of blue-shirted people cheering a lot.

1:06PM Okay, watching a little video about the openings. Lots of lovely scenic shots of Shanghai.

1:06PM At the Hong Kong opening, they sold more Macs on opening day than they have in any other store in the world!

1:06PM But he looks cool, comfortable. Genuinely happy and excited.

1:05PM In case you're wondering, Tim's style is a bit more subtle than Steve's -- a bit more understated.

1:05PM When the LA store opened, it took a month to hit 100,000 people.

1:05PM 100,000!

1:05PM The Shanghai store is "absolutely gorgeous," the company's largest store in Asia. 100,000 visitors stopped by on opening weekend.

1:04PM Two new stores opened in China in the past week, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

1:04PM "Apple has enormous momentum, and nowhere is that more evident than in our retail stores."

1:04PM Today, we're going to be learning about innovations in software and hardware, and the integration of all of these into a "powerful, yet simple integrated experience."

1:03PM Then there's the MacBook Air, which has "fundamentally changed the way people think about computers."

1:03PM The original iPod was launched here. "It went on to revolutionize the way we listen to music."

1:03PM This room is called the Town Hall, which Tim says has quite a history.

1:02PM "I want to especially welcome you to this campus. This campus serves as a kind of second home for many of us, so it's kind of like inviting you in to our home."

1:02PM "I love Apple."

1:02PM "It is a pleasure to host you today." And it is our pleasure to host you, readers.

1:02PM Tim Cook is on stage. "This is my first product launch since being named CEO. I'm sure you didn't know that."

1:01PM Here we go!

1:01PM Oh, and the giant Apple logo, of course.

1:01PM Not a lot to see here in the auditorium, really. Tan seats, tan carpet, neutral tones -- other than the purple lights up on the stage.

1:00PM It's all starting right now.

1:00PM Now we have a little "Jumpin' Jack Flash" from the Stones. Jagger's telling a tale, but the journos are getting a bit more focused.

12:58PM Oh yeah.

12:58PM "Ladies and gentlemen, our presentation will begin shortly."

12:57PM Today's music selection? It's a little The Who at the moment. "I can't explain."

12:55PM Definitely a huge amount of chatter in the room. People are giving last-minute phone interviews. Safe to say, there's a lot of anticipation here.

12:51PM It's a small venue, Apple's home theater where they run employee events. A huge contrast to the monstrous events at WWDC.

12:51PM And we're seated, or at least Tim is. Darren's being shuffled to the back. Apparently, his Nikon 70 - 200 intimidated a few people.

12:41PM Just saw that Apple's Japanese website is showing an October 14th launch date for the iPhone 4S. Guess we'll be hearing more about that guy soon!

12:33PM The line's getting a bit wild. Wild, we say.

12:28PM Of note, our Android handsets were not taken upon entry. Perhaps it's a sign of "openness."

12:27PM We're through the registration. Not surprisingly, there seemed to be an app for that. With "that" being checking us in.

12:23PM We're currently waiting here in line. Obviously, the event won't get rolling for another 40 or so minutes, so expect sporadic updates 'till we get seated.

12:20PM Hey! We're invited! Phew!

12:19PM Ralph's chatting it up. Looks pumped. Maybe he's about to get a new iPhone for his network. Hmm.

12:15PM We're in! And so is Ralph de la Vega, head honcho of AT&T Mobility. Not surprisingly, he's on an iPhone. But it's an iPhone 4. I bet he's super upset that he doesn't have an iPhone 5.

11:11AM Also, if you're in the Cupertino area for the next half-hour or so, swing by and say hello. We're the pair of dudes near the front with Android handsets.

11:11AM Got a few general iPhone fans gathering out here as well to watch the festivities from the sidelines. Awesome!

11:10AM Ah, seems Sue Anne's doing just fine. Huge relief! Already getting some applause out here.

11:09AM Chilly day's gettin' warmer by the minute. Topic of conversation in line? OH: "How's Sue Anne doing?"

10:43AM We just wrapped our pre-show broadcast, and are holding down the fort here in line. Looking like a bright, vibrant day in Cupertino. Pretty much the perfect day for a new iPhone. Or two. Or three.