Live from WWDC

[Editor's Note: This was a live document, starting at 12:55 p.m. EDT until the end of the World Wide Developers Conference keynote, at 2:50 p.m. Content is not sequentially presented.]

This afternoon, Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the WWDC stage amid loud applause. Steve started his keynote by apologizing about the sold-out show, which has 5,200 attendees. As rumored, Apple will preview Mac OS X 10.6, or Snow Leopard, during WWDC, but not during the keynote (e.g.: NDA content).

The New iPhone
"This is the phone that has changed phones forever," Steve proclaimed about the original iPhone. He claimed 90 percent customer satisfaction, and that 98 percent of customers are Web browsing and 94 percent are doing e-mail.

"Today we're introducing iPhone 3G," he said, to roaring applause from the audience. He described the phone as "amazingly zippy." Steve claimed that the iPhone 3G is 36 percent faster at downloading Web pages than my Nokia N95.

As usual, Steve wonderfully emphasized benefits while ignoring shortcomings. For example, he didn't say whether or not Apple had improved the digital camera or provided video capabilities. The iPhone 3G tech specs list the same 2-megapixel camera and don't indicate there is video capability. Steve skillfully focused on 3G comparisons, while ignoring features that differentiate other mobiles from iPhones. For example, my Nokia N95 has a surprisingly featured 5-megapixel camera.

The new iPhone's battery life: standby, 300 hours; 2G talk, 10 hours; 3G talk, 5 hours; Web browsing, 5 to 6 hours; video, 7 hours; and audio, 24 hours. As rumored, the iPhone 3G has a GPS, which supports some of the iPhone 2.0 software's location-based services.

Distribution: iPhone 1.0 was available in six countries. Apple set a goal of 12 countries for iPhone 3G with an eventual target of 25 countries. As the song "It's a Small World" played, a map added country after country until the number reached 70. The rollout will take place over the "next several months," Steve said. Europe: 29 countries. Asia-Pacific: 9 countries.

The iPhone 3G will ship simultaneously in 22 countries on July 11.

Apple dropped the price by $200. The 8GB iPhone 3G will sell for $199, or $299 for the 16GB model. "The big news is $399 to $199," Steve said. The 16GB iPhone 3G will come with a white back. Black is available for both models.

In the taxicab from the airport this morning, the driver asked if Apple would announce a new iPhone. He's from Israel, and he travels fairly often to the Middle East. The taxi driver definitely would like an iPhone, but not for $400. $200 would be just right, he said. Looks like he can get one.

iPhone 2.0 Software
Steve said there are "three parts of Apple now": Mac, music and iPhone. The keynote focused on the iPhone. "A quarter million people" downloaded the iPhone SDK and 25,000 signed up for the paid developer program, he said.

Steve highlighted new features in iPhone 2.0 software, such as cut, copy and paste; iWork and Office 2008 support; scientific calculator; parental controls; and more languages (16 at least), including the ability to draw Chinese characters with a finger. The iPhone 2.0 software will be released in early July, presumably Jan. 11 with iPhone 3G; it will be free for the iPhone but $9.95 for the iPod Touch.

The new App Store will be available on all iPhones, in 62 countries. Developers set prices for applications, and they keep 70 percent of revenues. The applicaitons will be protected by Apple's FairPlay DRM. Oh? Whatever happened to Steve's call for DRM freedom? What's good enough for music isn't good enough for software. DRM arguably makes the iPhone a more closed platform, because of the application lock-in.

The App Store will appear as another icon on the iPhone 3G desktop. Apps under 10MB can be downloaded by Wi-Fi, cellular network or iTunes. Larger apps wouldn't be available over a cell network. Enterprises will be able to distribute applications using iTunes. To me, the music player is a kludgey sync mechanism for enterprises. Another sync method is called "Ad Hoc."

MobileMe
The rumors about MobileMe were true. Phil Schiller, Apple's marketing chief, described MobileMe as "Exchange for the rest of us." The sync service stores information in the cloud and updates information across devices, including iPhones, Macs and Windows PCs. The service syncs calendars, contacts, e-mail and photos. Yes, the service supports Outlook on the PC.

Phil described MobileMe as a "breakthrough Web 2.0 interface." The AJAX-based interface definitely impressed in the demo. But I've got to see it to really believe it. Still, I've got to say that MobileMe is delivering now—OK, next month—features Microsoft has only promised with Live Mesh. You can wait for Microsoft or get something sooner from Apple.

As I've said before, sync is the killer application for the Web 2.0 world. Apple will charge $99 for MobileMe, and it will replace .Mac. MobileMe will be available with the iPhone 2.0 software in July, presumably July 11 with the iPhone 3G.

The iPhone Platform
The early keynote shifted to the iPhone SDK (software development kit) and the ease of development. As I blogged earlier today, Apple is making a big platform push with the iPhone. Its platform approach makes loads of sense.

Big news: Apple will provide an iPhone push-notification service to developers. The service uses a persistent IP connection, rather than background processes, to support applications like instant messaging. It will be available in September.

Ethan Einhorn from Sega demonstrated Super Monkey Ball on iPhone. The game will sell for $9.99 at the launch of the iPhone App Store. Another demo was from Ken Sun of eBay. The iPhone is the No. 1 mobile device for eBay auctions, he said. Ken showed an auction application for the iPhone.

Sam Altman, from Loopt, demonstrated how the company uses new location-based services available in iPhone 2.0 software. Sam said Loopt has developed applications for many mobile platforms. "This one is the best and most powerful," he said of iPhone.

Michael Sippey from TypePad showed an iPhone blogging app. TypePad already had an iPhone-specific page. The new app goes much farther. I've used TypePad; the new app offers many more features, including touch resizing of photos. The Associated Press' Benjamin Mosse demoed the Mobile News Network. He said the iPhone SDK feels like a desktop development environment.

Mark Terry, an insurance developer, showed off an app called Band, from Moo Cow Music. Just two weeks ago, Microsoft showed off a touch piano as part of the multitouch user interface coming in Windows 7. Here, Mark demonstrated a touch music application available in a few weeks, rather than late next year from Microsoft.

MOB.com has made its first mobile app for iPhone, featuring real-time baseball video highlights after they occur, not after the game. Dr. S. Mark Williams from Modality showed off an app for learning anatomy. "Imagine doing this on any other mobile device," he said. Someone in the audience made an affirming "Huh," and the audience broke out laughing.

Two weeks ago, Digital Legends Entertainment started working with the iPhone SDK. Xavier Carrillo Costa showed off a game ported to iPhone in four days and later optimized for the device's features.

Anecdotes
I started writing this post about 15 minutes before Steve took the stage. The venue was a madhouse of media. About 12:48 p.m., I saw former vice president Al Gore talking to Wall Street Journal technology columnist Walt Mossberg, in front to the left of the stage. Al is on Apple's board; he sat in the second row.

Rumors continued ahead of the keynote, with the Guardian reporting that a smaller, cheaper iPhone would be announced. The Guardian got something right.

Posted by Joe Wilcox on June 9, 2008 12:55 PM