Steve Jobs keynote: Live coverage

Hello Apple fanciers, and welcome to our live coverage of Steve Jobs’ WWDC 2008 keynote.

The Apple boss is due on stage at 6pm GMT, but we’ll be reporting the run-up to his speech as well as the main event.

Still not sure what WWDC is all about? Then check out our guide. In short, we’re expecting a 3G iPhone, a peek at the next-generation of OS X, and maybe a few surprises.

Want to keep in the loop? Then keep refreshing this page for minute-by-minute updates!

19:49: That’s it. Steve’s wrapping up. It’s all over. Nothing more to see.
19:48: “This new iPhone 3G is one of the finest products I’ve ever been associated with”. Steve’s leading a round of applause for all the developers and designers.

19:47: Steve’s showing the new ad for the 3G iPhone: “It’s finally here, the first phone to beat the iPhone…”

19:46: We’re reeling from that price. It’s astounding. It’ll be on sale July 11.

19:45: iPhone 3G 8GB will sell for… $199. That’s just £100. There’s a white version too.

19:44: Apple’s goal was 25 countries. They’ll be in 70 by the end of the year. “I think we can check off ‘be in more countries’” says Steve.

19:42: 70 countries will get the iPhone in the next 12 months. That’s a huge jump from the current six.

19:41: Just to re-cap. The new 3G iPhone looks almost identical to the current model, except it’s thinner, has a black plastic back with metal buttons for volume, and has a flush-fitting headphone jack.

19:41: Steve: “Everything everyone has asked for, we’ve built in.”

19:40: The crowd’s going wild. This is everything they wanted.

19:38: GPS on iPhone is going to be huge. Location data from the network, Wi-Fi hotspots and GPS means it’ll pin itself down in seconds. Steve’s demoing a video of the 3G iPhone providing location tracking as it drives down a road.

19:38: The 3G iPhone also has GPS.

19:37: Battery life is even better than 2G iPhone. Standby: 300 hours. 10 hours talktime. 5-6 hours of 3G browsing. 7 hours video playback. 24 hours audio playback.

19:35: Steve says using 3G (yeah, he’s had one for a while), and it feels almost as fast as Wi-Fi. Steve says it’s 36% faster than an N95. Even with both on 3G. That’s because of its software.

19:35: Steve’s whistling while he waits. 59 seconds on 2G.

19:34: Showing a speed comparison between the old iPhone and the new one on a web page. 21 seconds on 3G…. still waiting for the old one.

19:32: It’s thinner. Full plastic back. Solid metal buttons. Same 3.5 inch screen. The headphone jack is now flush (HUGE applause).

19:32: “Today we’re introducing the iPhone 3G”

19:31: Price. Steve says Apple is making the iPhone cheaper.

19:30: We need to sell iPhone in more countries. “We’ve got them in six so far, but believe me, they’re in use elsewhere”

19:29: We figured out what our next challenges are: 3G.

19:28: iPhone has 90% customer satisfaction. 98% of people use their phones to browse. 94% use e-mail. 80% use more than ten features on the iPhone: “You can’t even begin to figure out how to use ten features on most phones!” says Steve.

19:28: “It’s widely believed that this is the phone that’s changed phones forever”

19:28: Steve’s back. We’re back onto the iPhone. It’s a year old, says Steve.

19:27: Mobile Me costs $99.99 a year, replaces .Mac entirely and will be available when the new iPhone software comes out next month. There’s 20GB of storage included.

19:25: Demoing how photos can be sent to Mobile Me from the iPhone. But this isn’t really new. The current iPhone software allows image uploading to .Mac. Come on Apple. This has all been pretty old so far.

19:24: Phil’s showing how everything syncs back to the web from the iPhone too. His calendar is full of lunch meetings, even ones made just seconds ago on the iPhone.

19:20: Of course, it all works flawlessly with the iPhone too. Everything is pushed direct to the iPhone’s calendar, mail or contacts. Looks amazingly simple.

19:19: It all looks lovely. Very slick, very web 2.0. Mail is a drag and drop affair. Search is slick, finding contacts easily.

19:18: Phil’s doing a demo. It’ll work on either Mac or PC. He’s using a Mac, obviously.

19:17: Photos are also synced online to Mobile Me galleries. Snap a picture, and your friends can see it online instantly.
19:17: (we just checked, Me.com isn’t live to the public yet).

19:16: On Mac, Mobile Me works with Mail, iCal and Address book. On Windows, it works with Outlook. It’s also available through the web at www.me.com.

19:15: Change something on your phone, and it’s backed up instantly. Change something on a computer, and it’s instantly on your phone.

19:13: Phil Schiller’s talking us through it. “It’s like Microsoft Exchange for the rest of us.” It’s push e-mail, contacts and calendars for the iPhone. Instantly updated on the handset, no matter where you are.

19:13: Steve’s introducing something “entirely new”. Mobile Me.

19:12: Apple’s introducing ad-hoc sharing for Apps. Certain apps can be passed around between handsets, up to 100 users. Steve says computer science students could hand in their apps to a professor using nothing but their handset.

19:11: Enterprise apps can be set to only run on business-owned iPhones. Perfect for business use, but not particularly relevant for most people.

19:09: Apps can be downloaded over the air if they’re less than 10mb. All larger apps need Wi-Fi access.

19:08: The App Store will be automatically installed as part of the iPhone 2.0 software.

19:08: iPhone 2.0 software will be a free upgrade for all iPhone owners in early July. It’ll cost $9.99 for iPod touch owners.

19:07: Parental controls are built in too, as are a ton of new languages including two forms of Japanese and two for Chinese. You actually draw the character with your finger and the iPhone will recognise it. Very swish. “It’s one of the advantages of not having a bunch of plastic keys” says Steve.

19:06: Images can be saved from e-mails into your image library. The calculator’s also been updated. Turn it sideways and it’ll turn into a scientific calculator. Geeky, but cool.

19:05: Steve’s back on stage now. He’s highlighting new features in the iPhone 2.0 software. Contact search is there. Type a few characters and it’ll find your friends. iWork document support is there too. The iPhone can now play back Keynote documents. Word, Excel and Powerpoint support is also built in. They’ll all open just fine from inside Mail.

19:04: The SDK update is over now. Phew. Now, new products? Anyone?

19:00: In the new iPhone software, Apple has beefed up performance. It’s done some tweaking of code to allow notifications from apps without leaving them running in the background. It does it by closing the iPhone’s version of the app, but leaving a special bit of code running on Apple’s own servers. That will push messages to the phone when something happens, without needing to leave it running an app, sucking up battery life.

18:59: It’s a 3D fantasy adventure. Yes, it looks lovely. But there’s more coming…

18:57: Last app demo now, from Digital Legend Entertainment. Apple only learned about them last week, and they’ve only been using the SDK for two weeks, but have created something that Scott says is “like a game console.”

18:56: We’re now almost an hour into the keynote. Steve’s hardly said anything, has barely been on stage, and there have been no announcements of anything new. We’re starting to get worried.

18:54: Another medical app called MIMvista. It’s used to check out medical imaging without needing to find a free computer. Useful in a hospital, we’re sure.

18:51: Apple’s really hammering home the range of apps being made for the iPhone. Modality is being shown off now. It’s a medical app to help students zero in on parts of the body and find out about different illnesses. “I learned five different brain tumors while waiting in line for my latte.” Yeah, we can see that selling.

18:48: More demos. Now it’s MLB.com, showing off an as-it-happens baseball news app.

18:46: Oooh, there’s an independent Brit developer on stage. He’s showing off a multi-touch piano simulator, drums and 12 bar blues. The app is called Band.

18:43: Showing off a game called Enigmo. It uses the accelerometer screen to rotate buckets. You use the on-screen buckets to catch falling water droplets. They also have a rally driving game, which uses the accelerometer to steer.

18:42: Pangaea Software are next. They’re bringing two games to the iPhone.
18:41: Yep, it’s going to be free. But when? No-one’s saying yet.

18:40: Photos and video are included too. You can send stories to friends using text or e-mail. You can even submit breaking news stories (either text or photos) direct from your iPhone.

18:40: AP are using location sensing to always serve up local news. Smart, very smart.

18:38: Associated Press are next.

18:38: Again, it’s going to be available free when the App Store launches.

18:37: images can be picked out of the iPhone’s library, then scaled and positioned before they’re added to a TypePad blog. Of course, text can be added too. The second you tap “Publish” it takes care of everything in the background, letting you carry on with other things in the meantime. Clever, and much better than web-based iPhone blogging apps.

18:37: “Photoblogging is one of the most popular applications.” We can see where this is going…

18:36: TypePad are next, showing their blogging application for iPhone.

18:35: Loopt will be free when the App Store launches too.

18:34: Next up Loopt. It’s a social network that’s developed their own iPhone app. “We show you where they are, what they’re doing.” It’s social networking with location-sensing built in. Scary, but very, very cool!” We can see there’s one of my friends driving across the Golden Gate bridge.”

18:33: The e-Bay app will be available for free when the App Store launches… very good, but when will that be?!

18:32: It’s easy to browse items for sale, add them to your watch list, or read up on a seller’s history on the go. “Bidding is really easy.”

18:29: The iPhone is the most active mobile device for accessing e-Bay.

18:28: Next up: e-Bay, showing off a native application for the iPhone.

18:27: The iPhone’s a real option for gaming. The accelerometer is so responsive, it’s “instantly fun” says Sega. “The App Store represents a huge opportunity.” Super Monkey Ball will be available as soon as the App Store launches for $9.99.

18:26: Sega are showing off Super Monkey Ball. They showed this off when the iPhone SDK was first announced, but this is a much more polished version. The last version took two weeks to create. This time round they’ve had eight weeks. There are new levels, swankier graphics, and really responsive tilt controls.

18:26: Developers coming on stage to show off their apps. Sega is first.

18:25: The demo’s over. “There are thousands of developers out there using these tools. We asked what they thought.” It turns out Disney’s been making mobile apps for iPhone (Jobs is on the board there too, remember).

18:22: Scott’s finished building the interface, and is now simulating the (nearly) finished app. It’s that fast to create iPhone apps. Now he’s transferring the app to a real iPhone and showing it off there.

18:20: Building an interface is a drag and drop process. Toolbars and search boxes automatically re-size for the iPhone’s screen, for example. Developers just need to drop them where they like.

18:19: Scott’s doing a demo, showing how quick it is to create an iPhone application. He’s building the interface using pre-made APIs. He’s dropping in an address book and a location-based service. He’s using it to filter contacts by address, so they only show people within 10 miles of the iPhone’s current position.

18:18: Talking about the guts of iPhone software development, including the iPhone simulator to help write them on the desktop. We’ve seen all this before, it’s just a re-cap.

18:16: Moving on to the SDK now. Scott Forestall is on stage. Running through the iPhone SDK’s benefits, including Core Location to easily build location-based services. Is that a hint at GPS in the future? Maybe even today?

18:14: The iPhone 2.0 software’s integration with Microsoft exchange server is a big winner. It’s being praised left right and centre. Could Apple really have cracked the business market? The people on this video are chuffed with its remote wipe abilities, as well as encryption and VPN features.

18:13: There’s been tons of interest in the iPhone from the enterprise world. 35% of Fortune 500 companies have participated in the beta programme for the iPhone SDK. Steve’s showing a video of enterprise companies singing its praises.

18:11: Straight on to iPhone 2.0 software. “Everything people told us they wanted, we’ve built in” says Steve.

18:10: Developers will get a sneak peek at the next version of OS X, codenamed Snow Leopard.

18:07: Steve is on stage, explaining the Apple business is now three-pronged. Mac, iPod and iPhone.

18:06: The lights are down. It’s starting.

18:01: Everyone’s seated. It’s jam packed. Not surprising, since it’s the first ever sell-out WWDC.

17:57: Most of the press are now seated. Everything’s running to time. We’re mere minutes from starting.

17:54: Al Gore is in attendance. Well, he is on the Apple board of directors after all.

17:52: The stage is set up as usual for a Steve Jobs keynote. Plain Apple logo up front, dual iMacs to the side and a water bottle on standby. Less than 10 minutes to show time.

17:43: The first few people are entering the hall. Not long now.

17:41: There are posters everywhere. It seems Apple has a new icon to illustrate the iPhone’s accelerometer. It looks a little like a silver and green gyroscope. Apple says it’ll “add new dimensions to your applications.” Cool.

17:39: There are tons of banners touting the iPhone’s features for developers. Our favourite so far: “iPhone Simulator. Actual results will not vary”.

17:30: Attendees are now making their way to the upper level, ready to enter the main hall. In just over 30 minutes everyone will be seated and ready to begin.

17:23: A closer look at the banner for the iPhone App Store reads: “App Store now accepting applications.” Looks like we’ll have new toys to play with after the keynote, even on our iPod touch and 2G iPhones.

17:20: The Apple iPhone Developer site is down too. New iPhone software is now a certainty.

17:15: Apple’s online stores are down all over the world, including in the UK. Something fresh is being added. But what?!

17:10: At least one banner is up, but covered with a black shroud. That’s one surprise coming. How many more?

17:05: The upper level of the Moscone West centre houses a banner specifically for the App Store. That’s one thing we know will be shown off then!

17:04: Other banners show a picture of the iPhone with an incoming call. “The future calling,” they say. Does that mean we’re getting a 3G iPhone?

17:03: Apple has plastered the conference centre with banners proclaiming OS X the most advanced operating system ever, as well as new ones, stating OS X iPhone is the world’s most advanced mobile platform. It’s the first time Apple’s publicly used the OS X iPhone name.

17:00: There are hundreds of Mac fans swarming around San Francisco’s Moscone West centre. This WWDC is the first in Apple’s history to sell out.

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