Click Read More for breaking news from Apple, and the announcement of iPhone OS 4.0.
11:05 AM That’s a wrap. We’ll summarize the Q&A if anything significant develops in a follow-up article.
11:03 AM iPhone OS 4.0 won’t be available on iPad until the fall.
11:02 AM Steve is wrapping up reviewing the announcements. Pre-release of 4.0 available to developers today.
10:57 AM Ads can also use other iPhone frameworks, Maps and App Store. You can buy an app directly from an ad.
10:56 AM Apple is demoing an ad for Toy Story 3 with video, HTML5, and an interactive game in a single ad unit.
10:55 AM Ads follow the AdMob size and format, but touching them causes the add to “unroll” and fill the screen. HTML5 provides interactivity and video ads in a WebView window inside the app. Tap dismiss, and the add rolls back to where it was.
10:54 AM 60/40 split on ad revenue, no official demos yet… Apple is showing mockups.
10:52 AM iAd is touted as being more attractive to developers by keeping them inside their App. No more exiting to App Store or Safari to load an ad.
10:49 AM Steve announces iAd. Trashes AdMob and Google for poor quality and not being where ads are in the mobile spectrum, respectively.
10:48 AM Game Center will be in the APIs of iPhone OS 4.0, but may not be in OS 4.0 until later. Scott simply said “later this year.”
10:47 AM Apple enters social gaming with Game Center. Replaces other social gaming networks developing on iPhone with Xbox Live-like features in each game. Achievements, leaderboards, multiplayer, etc.
10:44 AM New features for the enterprise. Scott returns to talk about it. Apps can take advantage of iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 3G (and iPad) encryption chips inside their apps, to better protect data on the device. Microsoft-like mobile device management and app distribution (push apps to registered devices and update remotely).
10:42 AM As expected, iBooks will also be released on iPhone and iPod touch, alongside iPhone OS 4.0.
10:40 AM Steve let slip in an email that this was coming, and here it is. Unified inbox in Mail. Also, fast inbox switching and threaded emails arrive on iPhone OS as well. Exchange gets multiple accounts, and attachments can now be opened inside apps.
10:39 AM Actually, there is a limit, 2,160 apps per device.
10:36 AM Finally, App Folders. You can now drop apps into folders on the home screen to manage them. Unlimited apps on your iPhone.
10:35 AM Two more new services. Fast app switching allows apps to precache their state for fast resuming of an app after quitting it. Task completion allows apps with large file uploads to continue with the app taken out of memory (not in background, as in, you can quit Flickr completely and it will keep uploading a photo).
10:34 AM Local notifications add a new tier, and augment push notifications with the ability to self-serve. This means you no longer are limited to Apple’s server load capacity for apps that require frequent pushes.
10:33 AM Push notifications are not dead either. They still serve to keep background notifications for other apps than your four in-the-background. Apple claims over 10 billion push notifications sent since launch.
10:31 AM Google Latitude seems to get left out of the party, since it is web-only however. Apple won’t approve Latitude, though these new APIs may make it hard(er) for them to justify that going forward.
10:29 AM Background location APIs will allow navigation applications to run in the background, without draining the battery. Developers can tap into the API and receive GPS data and announce voice commands while taking UI and other functions out of memory. Smaller apps can passively use cell tower data (loopt, et al).
10:27 AM VoIP protocols allow apps to act like the phone when using other apps. For example, Skype can continue to use other apps while in a call, using a pulsing banner atop the screen notifying you that you are still in a call.
10:25 AM Official VoIP protocols confirmed for the first time.
10:24 AM Improved lock screen APIs also confirmed. For example, while Pandora is playing, the lock screen music controls now control Pandora.
10:22 AM Pandora finally plays in the background.
10:20 AM Like push notifications, Apple will require developers to modify their apps to support multitasking Apple’s way. Meaning, using APIs to force most of the program’s interface and other functionality out of memory while in the background. Scott says this is necessary to ensure battery life is maintained while multitasking, as well as performance.
10:19 AM Scott Forstall takes the stage to talk about how it was all put together.
10:17 AM Taking a page from ProSwitcher, you can double tap the home button to manage running programs, and launch new ones. It appears you are limited to four apps at any given time.
10:16 AM Steve claims multitasking on iPhone will be superior to Android and webOS, and confirms on-screen that you will be able to set iPhone home screen backgrounds (a la iPad).
10:15 AM New features include Multitasking, Bluetooth keyboard support, and improved battery life. Shipping this summer.
10:14 AM It appears that Apple is unlocking a plethora of previously-private APIs. Access to camera, calendar, SMS, and carrier data will no longer be restricted… much like Android today.
10:13 AM Turning focus to iPhone OS 4.0. “1500 new APIs”.
10:12 AM Apple argues Android has 19% browser share, below what other analysts argue. Also showing iPhone OS with a dominant 64%, though this appears to include iPod touch.
10:08 AM 3,500 iPad apps now available. However, it’s not clear if these are apps that are iPad-tested, or iPad resolution ready apps. Steve is now highlighting iPad apps.
10:07 AM App Store recap. Apple has crossed the four billion mark, with over 185,000 apps currently listed on the App Store.
10:06 AM iBookstore has seen 600,000 book downloads, no breakdown on how many of those were free versus paid though.
10:05 AM iPad debrief. Apple has confirmed 450,000 iPads have been sold as of today, below the 500,000+ number noted by Chitika, but higher than the 300,000 reported by Apple over launch weekend.
10:04 AM Steve has taken the stage.
10:00 AM Apple has given the quiet phones five-minute warning…
So when is flash going to finally hit the iphone? Look at how long the iphone has been out since the 2G model and still no flash? So many sites utilize this technolgoy, what is the hold up?
As it stands now, probably never. Apple has said they don’t see Flash as viable on mobile devices. Apple controls iPhone OS and sees HTML5 to be much more profitable for the company. If anything, iAd shows they at the very least have a logical strategy to pursue there.
Thank you Mr. Jobs for not addressing the Verizon vaporware and staying true to the mission.