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CNET at Moscone Center with Apple

Tom Krazit | Sep 06, 2007

We'll be live blogging from CEO Steve Jobs' keynote speech at Apple's event Wednesday in San Francisco, which began at 10am and is expected to run for 90 minutes. Check back here for updates.

10:17am: The new Nano has sort of a split-screen interface, with the familiar file tree on the left with photos or album covers on the right. It keeps the Click Wheel, so any multitouch displays will probably be reserved for the larger iPod, the third leg of Apple's iPod business.

10:16am: The new nano has a 2-inch screen, which is smaller than the current iPod video. Steve Jobs says you don't lose a pixel, as it has a 32 0 x240 resolution. I have to say, a 2-inch screen seems really, really small. But I pay a lot of money to optometrists every year.

10:15am: Now, the iPod nano. Jobs says that customers want to watch video on the iPod nano, which would require a brighter display. So, they're introducing a new nano. It's a very small device, appearing to be as thin as the current nano, but shorter and squatter with a wider display. It will be available in the same colors as the shuffle.

10:13am: Apple wants to get ready for holiday 2007, Jobs says. They are going to refresh or replace every single category of iPod today in time for the holiday season. Only minor updates to the iPod shuffle, with new colors. There will be a Product Red shuffle as well, as part of the project that donates money to charities in Africa. They're shipping today, same price.

10:11am: The ringtone builder will be turned on next week, but the new iTunes software should be available later today. "Now, let's talk about the iPod," Jobs says.

10:10am: Jobs opts for Aretha Franklin's Respect. He'll assign that one to incoming calls from the wife, he says. There's a separate folder under the library category on the left side of iTunes for ringtones. He cycles through a bunch of songs, quipping after playing John Lennon's Give Peace a Chance; "that's for when NBC calls".

10:07am: Jobs shows how you can make ringtones right in your iTunes library. You can pick any segment of the song you like. I'm thinking about the opening of Hell's Bells by AC/DC. That would make a decent ringtone, with apologies to Trevor Hoffman.

10:06am: A new version of iTunes is going to be released tonight, with support for ringtones, one of the rumors that surfaced prior to the event. They will be iPhone only, as was reported. It's a custom ringtone maker and can make ringtones from songs purchased from iTunes. It will cost an extra 99 US cents for a ringtone, on top of the 99 US cents you pay to buy the song.

10:04am: On the video front, 550 shows are available, and 950,000 shows have been sold. Interestingly, there's no mention of movies, almost a year after Apple started selling movies through iTunes.

10:03am: He starts off with an update on iTunes. Six million copies of iTunes are in the wild, and 3 billion iTunes songs have been sold. Six million songs are currently available on the iTunes store, in countries around the world, and Apple's the No. 3 music retailer in the US.

10:01am: Jobs takes the stage, to much applause from the audience of media, analysts and, hopefully, Apple employees. Traditional outfit, natch. "Today we get to talk about music."

9:58am: We're back, once again, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, awaiting Apple's latest announcement. The smart money's on iPods, although it's still up in the air what exactly we'll see. Green Day's playing, which means we're about to start. No Paul McCartney sightings yet.

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