The beginning of the Apple keynote can be summarized in one word: defensive.

Steve is upset about the app rejection complaints and about the Android market share claims. You want “un-curated” apps? Write a web app.

The rest of the announcements can be summarized like this:

  • New iPhone 4, thinner then 3GS, front-facing camera, out June 24th
  • Video chat on either front or rear camera (FaceTime)
  • HD video recording with iMovie app available for the phone
  • Camera flash and video illumination
  • Usual $199 and $299 price point
  • eBooks a big new market for Apple, coming to iPhone and iPod Touch
  • iPhone OS is now iOS. iOS 4 just went Gold Master (GM). Available June 21st.
  • iAds already has $60 million in ad commitments

Apple is now up to 5 billion apps downloaded.

In the last three years Apple has paid developers $1 billion. So Apple has made $300 million from app sales. If the average app price is $2.99 that means about 333 million of the apps were paid for. So about 7% of apps downloaded are for-pay.

There are 15,000 apps submitted each week. 95% are approved within 7 days. Of course that means that 750 are not approved each week.

Top three reasons apps are rejected

  1. Doesn’t function or do what it says it does
  2. Uses private APIs
  3. Crashes

iPhone 4 released. Looks just like the stolen prototype.

  • 24% thinner then 3GS - “thinnest smartphone on the planet”
  • Glass front and back with steel band running on the outside
  • Screen is custom “bendable” glass
  • Front and rear facing camera
  • LED camera flash on rear
  • Second mic for noise reduction
  • The steel band around the outside is a giant antenna
  • Display has four times the pixels as the 3GS - 326 pixels per inch
  • Supposedly max retina resolution is 300 pixels per inch
  • You can’t see pixels in new screen, wide viewing angle, 800:1 contrast
  • Interestingly, the iPhone 4 display has 78% of the pixels of the iPad
  • Theoretically you can’t see any increase in resolution above this
  • Uses iPad A4 chip
  • Bigger battery, better battery life - 20-40% longer
  • Added gyroscope. It’s tied into the accelerometer.
  • 5 megapixel camera - wanted better photos not more pixels
  • Kept sensor pixel size the same, switched to back-side illumination
  • Translation of above: better low-light performance
  • Records HD video - 720p at 30 frames a second
  • LED illumination for video
  • Costs $199 or $299
  • Available June 24th, pre-orders June 15th

iMove for iPhone

  • New app, iMovie for iPhone
  • Titles, clips, photos w/Ken Burns effects, transitions, music tracks
  • Video themes, geolocation, maps, etc.
  • Export to 360p, 520p and 720p

iPhone OS is now iOS.

  • Stuff covered before: multi-tasking, unified inbox, folders
  • Threaded mail, enhanced camera and photo apps, encryption
  • SSL VPN, multiple Exchange servers, wireless app distribution, remote management
  • iOS 4 goes Gold Master today. Public release on June 21st.
  • Upgrade is free

iBooks

  • Already owns 22% of the eBook market
  • Being expanded to support PDFs, bookmarks and notes
  • Being released for the iPhone and iPod Touch
  • PDF in email goes to PDF bookshelf in iBooks
  • Syncs between devices like Kindle (buy once, read on any device for free)

iAds

  • Had people working on them for 8 weeks
  • Apple keeps 40% of ad revenues
  • Ads are HTML5, fully interactive and don’t take you out of the apps
  • Already have $60 million in ad commitments for second half of 2010
  • Expect to own half of the mobile advertising space in second half of 2010

FaceTime

  • “FaceTime” video chat on either front or rear camera
  • Can switch to front or rear during video chat
  • FaceTime is wi-fi only, no setup, iPhone to iPhone only
  • FaceTime uses open standards
  • Working with carriers to get FaceTime on 3G networks