MacDailyNews presents live coverage of Apple’s March 2nd special event

88 Comments

MacDailyNews will present live coverage of Apple’s March 2nd special event beginning at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern right here on this page.

Live notes will be presented in reverse chronological order:

• Thanks for coming – End of event.
• Jobs thanks Apple teams, asks them to stand for applause; thanks their families, too.
• Jobs: “The hardware and software ned to intertwine more than they do on a PC. We think we’re on the right path with this.”
• Jobs: Apple stands at the intersection of Technology and Liberal Arts.

• Jobs: “We think 2011 is clearly the year of iPad 2.” (shows iPad 2 intro video featuring Jony Ive, etc.)

• Recap: iPad 2:
– Apple A5 processor
– Faster, lighter, thinner
– Cameras and gyro
– iOS 4.3 + FaceTime and PhotoBooth
– Improved AirPlay
– iMovie and GarageBand ($4.99 ea.)
– Over 65,000 iPad apps now in App Store
– 3G on both Verizon and AT&T
– Same 10-hour battery life

• Quick, if you want to keep the sidewalks clean, lock up the windows in HP’s, Motorola’s, Samsung’s, etc. corner offices! (MDN Ed.)

• GarageBand: US$4.99. Vying nicely for Software Bargain of the Decade honors. (MDN Ed.)
• Xander: This can record up to 8 tracks. Let’s put that in perspective: Back when The Beatles did Sgt. Peppers, you could only do four tracks, and the machine was the size of a washing machine.” Now it’s on an 8.8 mm thin iPad.
• Smart Instruments: Anyone can play. You can’t play a wrong note. (You’ll have to see this in action when Apple posts the video – MDN ED.)
• Wow, just wow. The fake iPad assemblers have nothing to match this. These are mature, very full-featured apps from Apple designed expressly for iPad’s capabilities. (MDN Ed.)
• Playing piano, the sound is different when you tap softly or with force thanks to iPad’s accelerometer.

• Xander Soren takes stage to demo…

• Touch instruments (grand piano, organ, guitars, drums, bass)
• Guitar amps and effects
• 8-track recording and mixing
• 250+ Loops
• Email AAC file of your song
• Compatible with Mac version of GarageBand

• Jobs: Introducing GarageBand for iPad

• iMovie for iPad looks amazing! And amazingly useful, too. (MDN Ed.)
• US$4.99 for iMovie for iPad. That may well be the software bargain of the decade. (MDN Ed.)
• Send project to iTunes
• Share videos via YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, CNN iReport.

• Randy Ubillos demos iMovie for the iPad…
• Announcing iMovie for iPad:
– Precision editor
– Multitrack audio recording
– New themes
– AirPlay to Apple TV
– Share your videos in HD
– Universal app (iPhone and iPod touch, too)

• Jobs retakes the stage: Photo Booth and FaceTime are built-in. We have two more. We like doing apps; setting the bar high for developers.

• iOS 4.3 release: march 11th for iPad, iPhone (GSM) and iPod touch (3rd and 4th-gen)

• And, of course, FaceTIme: works between two iPads, and iPad and an iPhone, and between and iPad and a Mac.
• iPad 2’s cameras mean new apps: PhotoBooth. Forstall demos…
• Personal hotspot – for iPhone 4 only
• Significantly increased Safari performance – Nitro Javascript Engine
• iTunes home sharing
• Airplay improvements
• Preference for iPad switch (USers choose to assign mute or rotation lock)

• Scott Forstall takes stage to talk about iOS 4.3

• The Smart Cover hinges in three places to form a stand for your iPad
• Comes in many colors, attach magnetically to iPad frame – video…
• Poly case – $39, Leather – $69
• Automatically wakes iPad when you open it, puts it to sleep when closed
• Smart Cover – not a case, a cover
• Jobs: We thought we could improve on original iPad case

• Oh, BTW, HDMI mirrored video out via $39 cable
• Up to 1080p
• works with all apps!
• Supports rotation
• No setup or configuration
• Charges your iPad while using

• Ships March 25 in 26 more countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finladn, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Ireland, Hungary, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK
• Ships March 11th in USA

• Jobs: “We think 2011 is going to be the year of iPad 2.”

• iPad 2 WiFi: $499 (16GB), $599 (32GB), $699 (64GB)
• iPad 2 WiFi + 3G: $629 (16GB), $729 (32GB), $829 (64GB)

• Same prices!

• Works on both Verizon and AT&T networks
• Comes in white and black. “And we’re shipping white from day one!”
• Gyroscope
• Same 10 hour battery life (ovr a month of standby)
• “When you get your hands on one, it feels totally different. Nothing approaches this.”
• Front and rear-facing video cameras
• 8.8 mm is thinner than iPhone 4 (9.3 mm)
• 8.8 mm thin vs. 13.4 mm for original iPad; 33% thinner

• Dual core processors
• Up to 2X faster CPU
• Up to 9X faster graphics
• Same low power as A4
• First dual core tablet to ship in volume

• We haven’t been resting on our laurels: Introducing iPad 2
• Jobs: If we did nothing, maybe, but…
• Jobs’ slide: “2011: Year of the copycats?” (surrounded by logoso: Android Honeycomb, Samsung, HP, BlackBerry, Motorola.”

• Schiller: “This is just the begining.”
• iPads are even being used to work with Autistic children
• Teachers and students, doctors and nurses, pilots and copilots… everybody’s using iPads
• Nobody predicted how huge iPad would be
• Jobs shows video of how 2010 was the year of the iPad…
• Android Honeycomb tablets have 100 apps from which to choose
• Over 65,000 apps specifically for iPad now in App Store
• Jobs’ slide “Competitors flummoxed”
• iPad has over 90% market share
• $9.5 billion in iPad revenue in 2010
• That’s more than very Tablet PC ever sold.
• 15 million iPads sold in 2010 (9 months, April-December)
• Over 100 million iPhones have now been sold
• Over $2 billion pad to app developers
• 200 million credit card accounts on iTunes
• Users have downloaded over 100 million books in less than a year
• Random House adding over 17,000 books to iBookstore
• Jobs: “We’ve been working on this product for awhile. I didn’t want to miss it.”

• Steve Jobs! (standing ovation)
• Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for…
• Please silence your iPhones
• The event is due to begin soon.

—

• Links to other sites planning live coverage:

– AllThingsD
– AppleInsider
– Ars Technica
– Engadget
– Macbidouille (in French)
– Reuters
– TechzTalk
– The Loop
– Webwereld (in Dutch)
– Wall Street Journal

Please send us live coverage links here and we’ll add them to our list.

88 Comments

        1. Oh thanks everyone! I just finished watching it, too! So everyone knows, it streamed well on my iPad 3 also, so it’s not just for the iPad 2 owners.

        5. I heard that they’re naming the next one iPad 5… and then soon to be followed by iPad 6. Steve will go back and make hokey prequel iPads 1,2 and 3 later.

  3. Let me see now…
    The 2nd most valuable corporation on earth, with products that dominate the news…STILL insists in 2011 that any video of the event be restricted to their own video cameras…and that the event must be “live blogged” instead..

    I am sorry but this is just Fsking ARCHAIC….

    There’s no advantage that makes any real business sense to forcing millions of people to READ the musings of people from engadget and look at men standing in front of a slideshow!!!!!!
    Come on now…
    Forcing people to come to the Apple site later to watch the video is ridiculous..500 channels on cable and we have to get it through live blogging? Seriously?

    THIS is just wrong.

    Reply

    2. What exactly are you asking for?

      The event will be available on Apple’s own web site later in the day (as in, just few hours after the event). If you have a computing device that supports the technology, you (and anyone else) can watch it from anywhere in the world). Are you proposing that Apple let ANYONE set up their own video cameras, just so that those who simply cannot give it a few hours can watch live? What critical life-and-death decisions must be made, based on the events unfolding at this presentation, that cannot be made three hours later???

      Reply

      2. Here’s what I’m asking for…

        A cablecast…on say CNBC or the Science Channel or Fox Business, or Current TV or just an open and live stream we can watch.

        Imagine ANY other event from the Superbowl to car wreck in which news from the event is handled like a telegraph message where we read the breathless musings of some writer to get the information…

        It’s not life or death but it’s pretty silly to have the news about devices, systems and software be disseminated like this.

        Apple’s own video cameras can feed a pool network feed that can be tapped into by approved outlets. But as it is now, the video is embargoed until later in the day. It’s bizarre. It’s not like the news is a secret at that point. It’s out..

        It doesn’t build up the hype further, doesn’t increase sales, doesn’t cost them anything more, and in short is a holdover from the days when bandwidth was very tight.
        Today….not so much.

        It’s ridiculous.

        Reply

        1. Cablecast on television… for an electronic gadget? What’s wrong with you?

          On a scale of one to ten, ten being the superbowl, this event is a two, three tops!

          If this were on television, it would be pay-per-view!

          Stop whining

        2. If you think this is for an “electronic gadget” you don’t fully grasp the importance of Apple in the world. Again..the 2nd largest corporation in the world. MILLIONS of people have an interest in what this company does. It’s stock is in mutual funds, 401k’s and hundreds of thousands of people’s stock holdings. Hundreds of other companies in the Apple ecosystem rise or fall on what they do.

          Cable channels such as CURRENT have plenty of space to air a one hour special cablecast.
          If we can go to a live event on NBC when Charlie Sheen is talking about his kids, oh yes, complete with live switching, we can show Steve Jobs live on stage introducing products and services that will mean billions of dollars and literally affect the U.S. economy.

          Reading a blog is somehow not the right way to get this information.

          This isn’t whining G4…So I don’t accept your framing of my comments. It’s a wish for a more contemporary and realistic view of how news from this vitally important company is shared.

        3. “It’s a wish for a more contemporary and realistic view of how news from this vitally important company..”

          You think you’re the first to raise this issue? The carcass of that horse has returned to the dust bowl of antiquity!

          You’re right, my use of the word whining was totally unfair and I withdraw that sentiment. But obviously, you’re new here, because we already been down this path and I’ve read better arguments.

    4. I haven’t got the URLs but the screw-ups made by Ballmer and especially Bill Gates on camera during live broadcasts are legendary. Made them look like idiots.

      Apple presents a screwup free broadcast with close-ups of the onscreen presentations. These close-ups couldn’t be done during a live broadcast. What’s more, the camera positions required for live streaming would be intrusive on the live audience.

      Let’s face it, the live audience is more important during the show and tell. The potential customers are more important a few hours later with a well produced show and tell on their computers.

      Reply

      2. Sorry but that’s simply not true. My own background includes video production (since the 1980’s) and it’s absurd to say that a live broadcast, cablecast, or webcast can’t use multiple cameras and include closeups.
        Guys sitting in the audience with still cameras, then transferring them to their computer to accompany their live blogged stream aren’t intrusive? Why do we care about cameras being intrusive on the tiny number of people in that hall anyway?
        This is a GIANT company now. The final video is just a slightly massaged version of the live event anyway. The production values are not what you’d call super high in the sense that there are hundreds of visual or audio elements that must be integrated into the final product. Live switching is done every day, all day on television all over the world. But for Apple, we must sit, reading engadget or another site, once they get done typing.

        The ONLY reason to do this is to exercise a level of control over the messaging. IF a screw up happens, however, do you honestly believe that the dozens of bloggers in the crowd wouldn’t pounce on it instantly, making it far bigger, and more headline worthy than it if was just shown and shrugged off on the video itself? We would see endless photos, and hand held iphone video of it ad nauseum.

        At this point, a company this large, with this much influence needs to stop acting like a up and coming startup and start sharing it’s news in a more intelligent way.

        This isn’t thinking different. It’s thinking backward.

        Reply

        2. What’s funny about this is that I have in fact served in just that capacity, for a company that has in fact made billions.
          I understand how that sounds and you may feel free to doubt me. But that’s the truth.

          My point is that the audience and public at large are underserved and they choose to funnel the information through just a few bloggers. It’s frankly just weird given their position and importance.

        4. Given your background, how much do you think the production as you’ve described it, would cost?

          Who’s to pay for it, Apple? Sponsors?

          And who is going to run the production, Apple, third-parties?

          Would they sell tickets? Accept subsidies from sponsors?

          I’ll tell you why Apple isn’t broadcasting this glorified marketing PR stunt, it’s because it’s a frickin’ nightmare to produce as it is, without introducing a world-wide feed.

          Apple dropped out of Macworld for the same reason; the event gains a life of it’s own. The event becomes greater than the product. Logistics become a nightmare. Planning begins the moment they turn out the lights on the last one.

          Why do you want to complicate matters? Apple is keeping this simple by inviting a few people from the press to witness the unveiling of the latest gadget. Anymore than that is unwarranted! Why make a big-assed production out of something so banal as an updated iPad?

          This way Apple can contain costs. They’re getting a billion dollars worth of exposure for next to nothing and elevating the production on a scale as you suggest, would invite criticism on a grand scale.

        5. The cost is essentially already incurred. They are shooting video of the event. The only real difference is the network link which is essentially just a sat truck outside the hall. The cost of a sat truck transmission.

          ENG crews do this daily for stations doing something as vitally important as a live view of a place where events are GOING to be held. The cost is in the neighborhood, of $1500 to $2000 an hour for the truck itself. Throw in prep costs and other engineering and you are right around $6000.

          The cost controls are irrelevant.
          Asserting that it’s a “nightmare” first of all is something you have no clue about. Neither you nor I actually know what goes into an Apple presentation but It’s basically a slideshow, with a couple of videos, likely a three camera shoot, that is in fact live switched according to a script.

          This for a company with a market cap of 325 BILLION.
          Do they NEED to transmit the video in real time. Nope.
          They sure don’t.
          But they also don’t NEED to restrict information access OF the event itself to the live blogging format.

          Back in the day, when Akamai’s edge network was the preferred solution to live streamed events such as the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, entire networks would crash.
          Not so today…

        6. You make some valid points, but for all your talking, we aren’t likely to see a change in the venue anytime soon.

          Just because you know how to do a thing, doesn’t mean you should. Apple probably has very good reason why they are doing as you suggest. I think chiefly because Jobs will have none of it and once he’s gone no one will give a shit about Schiller’s live presentation.

          I personally don’t care about how the information is presented. I doubt many here care either, as long as Apple keeps delivering.

          After all your blubbering, what does it matter to you how you receive the information, as long as you will eventually get the product?

          Is it the jazz? Is it being intimately involved in the moment? Are you living vicariously through the boots on the ground?

          Everything you have said, has already been considered and tabled. So give it rest already.

        8. Except that this is the antithesis of control over their image.
          They don’t control what people are writing, their opinion of it during the event, what photos they show, how it’s presented…none of it.

          IF they had a live video stream there would be NO NEED for people with laptops sitting there typing what is happening.
          It’s as if we all gathered for a major heavyweight fight and we are crowded around a telegraph to get the news.

          Ridiculous.

      1. THIS kind of stuff is superior to SEEING the presentation?
        Nobody is forcing anyone to read it..but if THIS is one of the limited live information sources…please…it’s just junk

        Lights are dimming
        by Jacqui Cheng at 10:02 AM
        the music is getting louder, probably going to start soon
        by Jacqui Cheng at 10:01 AM
        Oh, John Gruber is just behind me too. Didn’t realize that until just now.
        by Jacqui Cheng at 10:00 AM
        OK no more comments from me or the peanut gallery. It’s all Jacqui now.
        by Clint Ecker at 10:00 AM
        Telling us to turn off our cell phones, etc.
        by Jacqui Cheng at 9:59 AM
        the announcer says the presentation will “begin shortly”
        by Jacqui Cheng at 9:59 AM
        Oh man. I’ve been waiting for them to refresh the back of tim cook head line for years now
        by Operative_Me at 9:59 AM
        There he is with the gray hair.

        Reply

    6. Don’t you think it’s so the news media can have chance to report before everyone watches it later on the Apple site? That seems fair to me. It gets much wider press that way.

      Reply

    7. Do you not realize how much publicity these types of live events generate? Your solution of live casting is not in Apple’s best interest. Sorry, you will have to wait like children everywhere.

      Reply

      1. And if Apple for the next event announces a deal with Current TV (Al Gore)…to cablecast the actual event…everyone will flock to it and call it a great idea.

        The “news media” who report it FIRST are sites like Engadget.
        Not what you would call a large scale media source.

        By the logic being used why not shut down all Wi-fi and cellular access in the hall except for one dedicated source?

        Reply

  4. For the time-zone challenged, that is:

    11AM in Denver
    12 Noon in Chicago
    1 PM in New York
    2 PM in Santiago
    3 PM in Rio de Janeiro
    5PM in Dakar
    6 PM in London
    7 PM in Paris
    8 PM in Athens
    9 PM in Moscow

    etc.

    Reply

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