GeekStrike

Apple CEO Steve Jobs returns to give the keynote speech for this year’s special event, much to the delight of the audience. For those of you who haven’t seen the keynote, here’s the link. Or if you haven’t the time, here’s our summary:

It has been a long time since anyone’s seen one of the  greatest showman on Earth work his magic. So, when the Man himself did show up, it’s only natural to welcome him with thunderous applause and a standing ovation. Steve Jobs, who recently underwent a liver transplant, kicked off the event by thanking the donor and the company for helping him tide over this difficult period. Then there’s the obligatory list of impressive statistics achieved by Apple. And since we all love statistics, here’s a complete list:

Apple has, by this special event, managed to

• sell 30 million iPhones in 2 years.
• have 75 000 apps in the app store, with 1.8 billion apps downloaded. About a third of those apps (21 000) are games.
• become the number 1 music retailer worldwide, with a staggering 8.5 billion songs sold.
• have 100 million accounts with credit cards on iTunes.
• sell 220 million iPods.
• achieve 73.8% market share of the MP3 player market in the US.

Very, very impressive and it looks like these numbers would continue increase after this event.

What’s new

iPhone

• Unsurprisingly, iPhone OS 3.1, available for free for iPhone and iPod Touch users. 3.1 will also boast features like:
• Genius apps, which recommends apps which go best with the current apps in your iPhone. Similar to Genius for songs.
• Ringtones now available at USD$1.29 from the iTunes store. Meh. Why can’t Apple just let us put our own?!

iTunes

The announcement of iTunes 9 will bring evolutionary changes to how we use iTunes. And they are:

• Genius mixes. Works like your Genius playlist, but creates mixes of your songs. Kinda like a radio.
• Improved syncing for better music and photo management. You can now sync with Events and Faces if you have a Mac. Also, you can manually manage the apps in your iPhone/Touch via iTunes. Meaning you can do stuff like rearrange apps, add/delete apps and even change positions of your app page. Neat.
• Home sharing (OMG Yes!) allows the user to copy music, movies and TV shows from 5 authorised computers. It also has a handy feature not which shows you the stuff currently not in your library, making syncing a breeze.
• A redesigned iTunes store with a ‘cleaner’ look and a wish list included. Too bad iTunes is still not available in Singapore.
• iTunes LP. Specially for die-hard fans, purchasing an LP gives you not only the album of your favourite band/singer, it also includes interviews, line notes, photos etc. Definitely a treat for them. Apple will also make the tools for doing this available to artistes and labels.

iPod Touch

• now up to 50% faster.
• OpenGL 2.0. Hurray for better graphics!
• now costs the ‘magical’ USD$199 for 8GB. $299 for 32GB (up from 16GB) and $399 for 64GB (up from 32GB)

iPod Classic

The iPod Classic receives a memory uppgrade to 160GB at the same price of $249.

iPod Shuffle

• now comes in black, silver, pink, green and blue
• now costs $59 for 2GB. For $20 more you get double the memory. And for another $20 more, you get a ‘special edition’ stainless steel Shuffle. What a way to milk money off fanboys.
• since fans weren’t happy that they could not use their own headphones with the new Shuffle (due to the controls being integrated into the crappy bundled earphones. The reason why Apple made such a blunder still escapes me.), Apple also announced that an adaptor for the Shuffle that will allow any headphones to be connected will be made available by 3rd party manufacturers.

The One More Thing?

A ‘free’ video camera integrated into the new iPod Nano, videos taken can then be uploaded to youtube through iTunes, making clear Apple’s intention to challenge video cameras like the Flip video. The full specs are:

• 640×480 video camera, with up to 30fps.
• mic and speaker.
• Voiceover.
• FM radio (Something the iPod Touch doesn’t have!).
• Voice recorder, which should be natural since a mic is already included.
• Pedometer.

The 8GB model will retail for $149 and you get double the capacity for an additional $30.

Our thoughts

Expect sales of the Nano to surge and Apple capturing more of the MP3 player market share. The addition of FM radio, voice recorder and video camera makes the Nano the most fully featured MP3 player on the market. Coupled with the number 1 music retailer worldwide (iTunes), the Nano is truly a force to be reckoned with.

Others

It seems like Steve Jobs is leaving the usual company bashing to subordinates like Phil Schiller now, who mentioned long time rival Microsoft’s 1.1% market share compared to Apples 73.8%. He then went on to poke fun at Dell (yep, the iPod Touch is the only personal computer that can fit in your pocket!), going so far as to compare the Touch to Sony’s PSP and Nintendo’s DS, citing the Touch’s 21 000+ games compared to 3 680 for the DS and 607 for the PSP.