Steve Jobs Macworld Keynote--Apple TV and iPhone

The venue for Steve Jobs' keynote was changed from prior years, i.e. West Moscone Hall rather than South Moscone. West Moscone is where the Worldwide developers Conference is held and is much larger, better accommodating the huge media overflow. The downside is that West Moscone is a very long block away creating stampede conditions for getting back to South Moscone for the opening of the Expo at 11am.

Steve Jobs started off by saying that half of all Mac buyers are now new to the Mac and that 2007 will be a terrific year for the Mac. But, he then announced that was all he would say about Macs in this year's keynote.

Apple TV it is

After running through some gee whiz data on iTunes, including announcing that Paramount Pictures has come onboard offering great new movies through iTunes, he announced Apple TV, the device formerly known as iTV. It has all of the ports revealed in September's sneak peek and provides 720p high definition video. As we and others surmised, Apple TV uses the new (actually draft) super-speed Wi-Fi standard 802.11n to stream media from up to five computers to a TV.

Apple TV syncs with one computer just like an iPod and with a 40GB hard drive it stores up to 50 hours of video. It costs $299 and will ship in February. It can be ordered today.

The iPhone lives as the iPhone

Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone and it is named iPhone instead of some dorky name like iChat Mobile. Apple may have cut a deal with Cisco/Linksys to use their iPhone trademark.

The iPhone is three devices in one. It is a widescreen iPod, a "revolutionary" mobile phone and a "breakthrough" internet communications device. It runs on Mac OS X and is controlled with an Apple-patented 3.5" revolutionary touchscreen that accommodates multiple fingers and gestures as well as a simple touch. The screen has 160dpi resolution and the iPhone is about a half-inch thick.

The iPhone syncs automatically through iTunes. It can sync contacts, calendars, images, notes, songs, bookmarks and even e-mail. Jobs called it a smarter smart phone.

It operates on GSM and EDGE networks so it doesn't yet have the broadband capability of EVDO but Jobs said that was coming in the future. The iPhone has Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi capability so it can switch to Wi-Fi when a network is near. It has HTML email, a Safari web browser and Dashboard Widgets. Jobs quipped that it is the Internet in your pocket.

The CEO of Google, Yahoo and Cingular all came on stage and fawned over the iPhone and Apple's relationship with them. Google map use was demoed.

The battery will last up to 5 hours while using video or talk and 16 hours while listening to audio.

The iPhone is $499 for a 4GB model and $599 for an 8GB model with a 2-year Cingular contract and it will ship in June.

More later, we're stampeding to South Moscone to get our hands on the new AppleTV and iPhone. [Bill Fox]